Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar

Pearl in the Sand is an exceptionally readable retelling of the Rahab story from the Book of Joshua in the Bible.

Rahab is sold into prostitution in the booming and lawless metropolis of Jericho at the tender age of 15 when her farming family becomes destitute.  There, she works her way up to become the key innkeeper in the city,  having earned enough money to build her own inn within the bordering infamous walls of the great city centre.  The more Rahab hears about the one true God of the Hebrews, the more curious she becomes.  Having always been conflicted by her forced profession, she wonders if there is a God of compassion to withstand the pagan gods of the temples peppering her town. When two Hebrew spies arrive at her inn, Rahab is met with a choice: act in a great and dangerous leap of faith, or ensure her comfort and safety and wealth are retained.

Unlike most fictionalized accounts of Rahab’s famous Old Testament story, the famous portion of Rahab and the spies takes only the first third of the book.  From there, we are walked through Rahab’s joining of the Israelites, immersing herself in their faith, eyeing from distance the great battles fought between Hebrews and foes and her growing attraction with great military leader, Salmone.

Both Rahab and Salmone are the crux of the story and are both equally well-developed: their lives and budding relationship interspersed with the great canvas which highlights the many famous acts and stories surrounding Joshua: from the tumbling of the walls by trumpeting fervor, through Aichan’s sin and some of the great battles fought, to the day the sun stood still.  Joshua, a well-rounded peripheral character and sage voice offers many intriguing moments of illicit faith.  I applaud  Tessa Afshar for colouring the story in such a unique light and focusing on tenets of the book usually left un-realized in other fictionalized versions of the tale.   Afshar is very confident in how her painting and portrayal of a troubled relationship will offer a great light when mended and string a strong lineage (from Rahab and Salmone’s son Boaz onward ) to the coming of Christ in the New Testament.   Afshar’s research is evident and I was captivated by the tent rituals of the Hebrew women, the focus on hospitalization and medicine after the gory battles of the field and the day-to-day life of a burgeoning nation as it struggled to find its own place ----away from the long provided-manna and leadership of Moses, leaving the wilderness years long behind.   I must also commend Afshar’s battle sequences. They were wonderfully rendered and were very realistic.  I felt my heart pulsing as she cited almost immeasurable odds.

Great Biblical fiction can do well at extrapolating an imagined (and believable ) backstory to a few verses blatantly transcribed.  I felt deeply for Rahab and her insecurities about her impurity and her past and her desire to become worthy of the God who will save her and the new husband who obviously loves her, no matter his initial reticence to wholly embrace her past. This was a strong theme painted and very encouraging to those of us who doubt how an unconditional love could reach us.   Stronger in thematic depth and precision,  I preferred the backlight to this story to the famous (overhyped?) Redeeming Love: a grandiose re-setting of a popular tale.

The book, however, is not completely without fault.  Afshar errs at breaking tone and timbre by inserting decidedly distracting modern humour and sarcasm.  Characters are said to “roll their eyes” and some of their familiar interactions complete detract from the verisimilitude surging through so much of the book.  Indeed, I ended up rolling my eyes. Afshar was forced in these moments trying so hard to mete her characters with human warmth and frailty: but rather than eliciting a smile, they just made me cringe in awkwardness.   That being said, 75% percent of the novel was expertly penned, the dialogue ( when not straining to match the perceived need for audience humour )_ was acute and the historical detail was fascinating.

Looks like Afshar has a new release out and I look forward to seeing how she colours in the lines of another strong Biblical woman!

A Reluctant Queen: The Love Story of Esther by Joan Wolf

Hello friends! Happy Easter Monday! 

I read this book over the weekend and I found it ridiculously empowering---with the same empowerment I am always surged with when I retreat into one of the tales of the many, many amazingly strong women of the Old Testament.

The story of Esther and her marriage to King Ahasuerus is a popular and well-loved tale from the pages of Scripture: the love story of a beguilingly beautiful Jewish woman who hides her heritage in order to win the King's hand and his ear as she attempts to quell the plots of the King's grand vizier, Haman, who wants to initiate one of history's first genocides.  

From the beginning pages when we read of Esther's quiet life with her kind and wise kinsmen Mordecai to her unwilling renouncement of her Jewish faith in order to live by the King's Persian rules in hopes of being chosen as queen from his large Harem, this ancient world is filled with rich-tapered threads and the palpable scent of spices and mysticism.   Biblical fiction when done poorly can be ripe with redundancy; but Joan Wolf has a talented knack for creating a world and fleshing out characters often marginalized by the confines of their ancient text.  I was riveted from the moment Esther hears of Queen Vashti's untimely fate and through her first meeting with the King ( with whom she develops a completely unexpected rapport).  

Like the Book of Ruth, Esther is one of the Bible's Cinderella stories: it rewards a strong and innovative and resourceful woman and commends her for the risks she takes to save her people.  The King she is initially warned about melts into a kindly figure who shows unanticipated compassion; the villain is given just reward, and Esther and her Uncle are given the satisfaction of knowing that their Jewish relatives are saved from an awful fate.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Bible is how God used unexpected people: beautiful women, prostitutes, Moabite strangers, warriors and Queens to solidify his master plan. Esther is a strong and good-natured woman with a succinct devotion and unwavering loyalty to the right.  She deserves the sweet and slow romance which blossoms between her and the King.  She deserves the happy end to a troubled fate. 

I have already pre-ordered Wolf's retelling of the Rahab story and cannot wait to sink my teeth into more of her well-researched description.

For those who are not convicted by a religious sense, you can easily seep into this story regarding it as a powerful and well-penned chapter of political history. Wolf paints well Esther and Ahasurerus; but also Haman, the court Eunichs and servants who serve the Queen and the financially-sound Mordecai whose conviction propels Esther into the fate which secures her people and inspirationally launches the well-loved and still-practiced celebration of Purim.

Read this book!  Romantic! Historical! Colourful!  and a serene portrait of one of history's most memorable royals!

Sixty Acres and a Bride by Regina Jennings

There’s nothing quite like a re-imagining of the Book of the Ruth; which readers of this blog know is my favourite Bible story. These past few years, we were doled out a remarkable reconstruction of the tale with Liz Curtis Higgs’ Here Burns My Candle and Mine is the Night, which, you’ll remember, I absolutely loved.

In Sixty Acres and a Bride we move to 19th Century Texas: the heart of the romanticized West. Here, the young Mexican widow, Rosa Garner and her mother-in-law are forced to return to the family ranch after falling on hard times. Rosa is like a flood of colour and light, breaking the American traditions with her spicy personality and exotic looks. Like the ostracized Ruth in the Bible story, Rosa is immediately an outsider and speculation as to this girl straight from mountains of Mexico leads to conflict. Rosa tries to grow accustomed to the American way; but her flavour and flair cannot help but stick out. While her exotic beauty tantalizes some; it repels others and it is in the hands of the decent Weston Garner that her fate will be changed.

Weston Garner is our Boaz of the Biblical re-telling. He is nursing his own broken heart, is steadfast and strong, is shrouded in mystery and genuine goodwill. It takes quite a lot for these two to jump through the hurdles to secure their respective happiness; but when they do, the reader is well-rewarded. Weston’s view of love as sacred and true is well-developed and happily meted out when he finally does come to an agreement with our heroine. Like the best love stories, it is not the surprise of love, rather its fulfillment and that is what makes the Book of Ruth the fairytale of the Bible (God loves a Cinderella ending as much as we do) as it does this book an inventive way of discovering a well-known tale in a different setting.


I don’t always speak to literary and descriptive devices when I write a book review; but I was taken by some of Jennings’ innovate infusion of consonance and imagery in her debut novel. A few sentences of note: “By the time the bats were swooping in the twilight…” was one such instance and “the treetops where swinging around like the tip of a whip.” I really liked the unexpected placement of these creative and colourful lines in a straight forward historical romance.

The American West has long acted as a favourite canvas for Christian historical series and I appreciate Jennings using her obvious passion for its gritty and lovely dissonance to paint the well-known story here.

Visit Regina's blog where she discusses her journey to publication, includes photos of launch events and even lets us know what she's reading (it's an eclectic mix)

Her website is here

Buy the book on amazon
 
Ruth is not only four chapters long (short), it's my favourite Book of the Bible. You can read it herehttp://www.readbibleonline.net/?page_id=15

note: this book has been provided for my review courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  It is available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Naomi and Her Daughters by Walter Wangerin Jr.

With an influx of scripture and a nuanced stage of setting and drama, Walter Wangerin Jr’s Naomi and Her Daughters takes us back to Judges: a time and place before most fictional re-tellings of the story of Ruth take place.

Vividly and with a deft grasp of Biblical Knowledge and history, Wangerin weaves the story of Naomi primarily and later of Boaz ( into whose story Ruth becomes a major factor). This book is earthy, erotic, colourful and poetic. Wangerin’s language reflects the best of the psalms: infused with scripture yet with poetic cadences of its own. Its sing-song quality mirrors the story-telling Naomi is so good at.

Those who have a running knowledge of the Biblical story will find it a little easier to understand: especially when it dips into the tribes of Israel, the lineage of King David ( to whom Ruth and Boaz’s son Obed is born and, later, to whom Jesus Christ is born into ) and the customs surrounding Ruth’s appearance on the threshing floor and Boaz’s interposing as Kinsmen Redeemer.

This is a smart, thinking and intelligent take on my favourite Bible story. I often argue that Ruth is the most Romantic book of the Bible: our heroine, a kind-hearted outcasted Moabite follows her mother-in-law beyond the bounds of her own family and history and into the unknown. Leaving behind her religion and tradition she acts in the way she knows is right and the Lord rewards her highly. Any one who has ever acted on conscience and has thought their actions went unnoticed will be inspired by Ruth’s plight, endurance and ultimate happy ending. Her romantic lead, Boaz, is attracted to the light and goodness in Ruth’s heart even while the world scorns and mocks her.

Not every ounce of Christian fiction can find secular appeal; but readers of every faith, religion or no, should lose themselves in Wangerin’s master-craft.

This is poetically and lyrically moving: a wonderful and tense revisit to history.

Readers of Christian and Historical fiction will be mesmerized.

Any one who has tried Orson Scott Card’s Old Testament tales or the Red Tent will enjoy learning more about the customs of Ancient Israel and Old Testament life.

My sincere gratitude to Zondervan for this enlightening experience!