Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I love historical & biblical fiction. I love to learn and I find that I learn a lot by reading about life in various settings. When I was emailed about reviewing In The Shadow of Jezebel, I was pretty excited.
I was mostly unfamiliar with the story of Jezebel in the Bible. I knew that a Jezebel was a bad woman, but other than that, i was clueless. Mentioned in several books (Chronicles & Kings, for instance), In the Shadow of Jezebel is a story about the Kings & Queens of the tribes of Israel. At least, I’m pretty sure. Like I said, my Bible knowledge of this stairs is pretty low.
Anyway, Jehosheba is the adopted daughter of a ruthless queen who, with her even more ruthless mother, Jezreel, manipulate political ties to accomplish their will. Nicknamed queens of destiny, it is their goal, among others, to make the country worship Baal Melekart, instead of Yahweh. They use every weapon and every person they can to further their plans, killing friend, family & for.
Jehosheba, or Sheba, is offered by her father and mother, to marry the temple high priest. This is the story of how God ordained the people and situations to accomplish His will. Through the story, Mesu Andrews brings to life the treachery of the house of David, His healing grace, and the history of the Bible.
While this book is not any bigger than most other books I read, it took much longer. There were MANY people involved and while it was easy to keep them straight, it was a tale full of treachery, deception and political maneuvering. All that takes time–if you hurry, you miss important details :). In the Shadow of Jezebel was divided into 3 parts and that was pretty helpful to divide the storyline up. Since I’m not familiar with the story, I was glad that she added a section at the end to share where she had to stretch things.
In the Shadow of Jezebel was a fabulous read! It had the perfect pace and was full of suspense and intrigue without keeping you awake at night. But it was still hard to put it down :). If you like Biblical fiction, I highly, highly recommend In the Shadow of Jezebel.
Now, if you will excuse me, i need to look to see if I’ve read the others yet–this is #4 in the Treasures of His Love series :).
