Book Review: A TREASURY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHRISTMAS STORIES

Title: A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories
Author: Bettye Collier-Thomas
Publisher: Beacon Press
Pages: 248
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

This is a collection of short stories and narrative poems written by black writers and political activists. The writing in this book forms part of the black literary tradition that flourished after the Civil War in America. This was literature as a form of political and social activism and it brings out the subjugation of black people in America.

I am mostly unfamiliar with the history of African-Americans in the US. Apart from a brief acquaintance that has emerged from the reading of books set in the American South, I know almost nothing of the struggles that black people have faced.

Each of the 4 poems and 18 stories is preceded by a detailed bio of the authors, the greats of black literature. The editor takes the trouble to give us the context and the history, helping us to appreciate the story better.

The Sermon in the Cradle by WEB DuBois sets the story of the Nativity in Benin in Nigeria, rooting the greatest story set in Bethlehem in Nazareth in another place and time. One in which the Baby Jesus continues to be sought by the powerful who seek to do Him harm.

A Carol of Color by Mary Jenness reminds us about how white Western culture has appropriated Jesus for itself, making Him white-skinned and blue-eyed in their own image. It was the imagery I grew up with too. To this day, the majority of churches in India continue to display Western iconography. This poem, though short, was apt.

The Christmas Reunion Down at Martinsville by Augustus M Hodges is a long, narrative poem, set in Kentucky around 1893. The poem introduces us to three generations of a family as they gather for Christmas. We come to know of the joys, struggles and history of Uncle Joe and Aunt Sallie Moore. Their story is emblematic of what African-Americans lived through as slaves, and after being given their freedom. We get a clear picture of the cruelties of the plantation owners and the patrollers they hired to control their slaves.

The Children’s Christmas by Alice Moore Dunbar lets us see Christmas through the eyes of give children who have never known the joys of Christmas. There is Julia, the daughter of an alcoholic, single mother, to whom Santa brings ‘another beatin’. Matilda, Jewish, growing up in an orphanage, knows nothing about Christmas but longs for a doll from Santa. Florence, who doesn’t have warm clothes, thinks Christmas means cold weather. Frank, nursemaid to his baby brother, longs for a toy at Christmas. Hattie is blind and sees nothing of the splendour of Christmas décor.

Christmas Eve Story by Fanny Jackson Coppin is a feel-good story. Two orphans, Maggie and Johnny, from a dirty hovel are adopted by a kind stranger after the death of their mother.

Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift by Mary E Lee shows us what Christmas was for middle-class black children. This story puts Christ back into Christmas at a time when feasting and gift giving had become popular.

A Christmas Story by Carrie Jane Thomas is about little Minnie, who plans to stay up to meet Santa and ends up dreaming about him.

Fanny May’s Christmas by Katherine Davis Tillman introduces us to Fanny May, whose mother is ill. Her father’s salary is low, and it doesn’t look like she will get a gift for Christmas. But of course, her parents and friends pitch in to give her an unforgettable Christmas.

Elsie’s Christmas by Salem Tutt Whitney is another heart warming story about little Elsie, who wants a doll with a pretty brown face, for Christmas. This was a time of reinforcement of racial pride. 

General Washington – A Christmas Story by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins was a story with a big heart. My heart went out to 10-year-old Buster aka General Washington. I particularly loved the tongue-in-cheek, indulgent tone of the narrator.

The Autobiography of a Dollar Bill by Lelia Plummer helped us understand the plight of impoverished young black street kids through the eyes of a dollar bill.

Mirama’s Christmas Test by Timothy Thomas Fortune shows us how upper-class black women took it upon themselves to improve their lot in life through hard work.

A Christmas Party That Prevented a Split in the Church by Margaret Black is a story of black church women trying to wield autonomy. This story had Jane Austenish overtones.

The Three Men and The Women by Augustus M Hodges, the only author to have a story and a poem included here, was about race relations. This story was dark and brought up the reality of lynching and the smug superiority that condoned and encouraged it.

It Came To Pass – A Christmas Story by Bruce L Reynolds was a sweet story about a miracle healing.

A Christmas Journey by Louis Lorenzo Redding was the complete opposite, ending on a dismal note, out of place with Christmas.

Uncle US Santa Claus by James Conway Jackson was a poem that demanded from the government the same rights and freedom to exist and thrive enjoyed by white people for the black people.

The Devil Spends Christmas Eve in Dixie by Andrew Dobson talks about the meaninglessness of Christmas rituals, and the mindless gaiety that it represents today, particularly when so much hate abounds in the form of lynching. This one is just as relevant in today’s time. This poem was hard-hitting.

In One Christmas Eve by Langston Hughes, a little boy is disillusioned and frightened when he learns that Santa Claus is just an old, white man.

Santa Claus is A White Man by John Henrik Clarke uses the same theme, but works out a darker ending. Once again, a little boy discovers that the myth of Santa Claus is a farce. Only this time, the child narrowly escapes a dire fate.

Merry Christmas Eve by Adele Hamlin is the beginning of a sweet romance.

White Christmas by Valena Minor Williams is also about Santa Claus, but brings in hope that things could be better for the little protagonist.

All in all, certainly a collection of stories that touched my heart. 

(I read this book on Edelweiss. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Edelweiss.) 

Book Review: THE SNEEZING CHRISTMAS TREE

Title: The Sneezing Christmas Tree
Author: Aaron Kerr
Publisher: Self-published
Pages: 40
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Alice, her younger brother, Tommy, and their parents are out looking for their perfect Christmas tree. After a long search, they finally find a tree they all like, and Tommy decides to christen the tree, Emily. They bring Emily home, thinking that she’s a perfectly normal tree, and then the sneezing begins.

The book is written in the first person PoV of Alice. The pages are peppered with beautiful illustrations. I read this book two days before Christmas and got my kids to read it too. I knew just as soon as I began reading it that it had the potential to be a story that my kids would love.

There are lessons for little ones about not keeping secrets from our parents, as also about seeing trees as living beings who bring untold wealth to our world, the importance of creating happy memories for ourselves and of finding one’s purpose in life.

The best part about this book is that it puts Jesus Christ firmly at the heart of Christmas.

The entire story is tied up with humour, as in the camouflage pajamas, and warmth. The Sneezing Christmas Tree is a special treat for all ages.

Book Review: THE PREACHER'S BRIDE

Title: The Preacher's Bride (Hearts of Faith series) 

Author: Jody Hedlund

Pages: 387

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Elizabeth Whitbread’s heart is filled with compassion towards the poor infant, crying lustily to be fed and comforted, now that the mother who gave birth to him, Mary Costin, is dead. Elizabeth longs to comfort him, but Mrs Grew, a formidable woman married to town alderman and church elder, has already given him up as a lost cause.

When the vicar suggests that Elizabeth be appointed as housekeeper and caregiver to preacher, tinker and widower John Costin’s household of four kids, including 8-year-old blind Mary, and three younger ones, John is unwilling to have a stranger supplant herself into her family. Elizabeth herself has three months before her betrothed, Samuel Muddle, comes to claim her as his wife in marriage.

But then he sees the need of his children and how good Elizabeth is to them, and his heart slowly thaws towards her.

But their troubles are only just beginning. Mrs Grew is a formidable opponent, unwilling to disregard what she sees as Elizabeth’s presumptuous behaviour. Meanwhile, there are many who resent John Costin for his popularity, and many Royalists who despise him for turning his back on the traditional church in favour of the simpler worship that Puritanism espouses.

Will these Royalists stand by and watch a mere tinker preach the faith? How far will they go to dissuade him from his life’s purpose?

 

The first challenge in the lives of Elizabeth Whitbread and John Costin is domestic in nature. The three-week-old Costin baby will die soon if he does not receive milk or comfort but Mrs Grew, having tried and failed to feed him with a bottle, won’t let another try in order to save face. This sets the stage for confrontation between her and Elizabeth.

But there are other dangers too. Darker forces gathering together, willing to do whatever it takes to put a tinker in his place.

The book is set in Bedford, England, in 1659. Along the way, we get a sense of the setting, and the narrow-minded beliefs that put the religion and lineage of a potential wet nurse over the needs of the crying babe. It is period characterized by the lack of the conveniences we take for granted, large families with an ever-growing number of children to compensate for high child mortality. Elizabeth herself is the second of seven daughters; the family has lost their only son.

It is also a time when girls can aspire to nothing more than the care of home and hearth, no matter what their qualities may be.

The author also gives us an understanding of the workhouses and orphanages then, the rampant cruelty practiced there, the political situation in terms of religious tolerance and dissent between the Anglican Churchh and the Puritan congregation.

These historical events come alive for us as do the socioeconomic realities of the time. It is a crime to be a beggar, and virtually any crime can merit the punishment of a pillory.

Growing up in India, we learned virtually nothing of the history of England, and even less about Oliver Cromwell. But reading the book helped me realise the parallels to the situation in India where women were not permitted to learn to read and write and the lower classes were denied the right to learn the Scriptures too. In India, the high-class Brahmin men denied the low-caste and all women the right to study scripture in order to preserve their power.

I enjoyed the banter between Elizabeth and her sister, Catherine. The language and choice of words throughout the narrative are pitch perfect. The writing is beautiful, with tender emotions described with a touch of finesse.

The author gives us a strong sense of the feistiness of the heroine, her desire to do the right thing, unfettered by the rules and restrictions that regulate life in her small community. Although unable to read and write, Elizabeth is able to think and reason. She is quick on the uptake and is faithful, honest and hardworking.

Of course, both the main characters have their faults. Neither John nor Elizabeth are paragons of excellence. They are both prone to sin and error.

I wasn’t too charmed by Costin though. At one point, he thinks about Elizabeth in these words, She needed someone who could keep her sharp as well as in her place and Samuel Muddle was not that man. The unsaid implication that women need to be kept in their place is presumptuous. Ironically, he himself fights against the Royalists who oppose his preaching, stating that he is an uneducated tinker who ought to understand his place and not preach the Word of God.

I didn’t know until I read the author’s note at the end that the book is based on the true story of John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, and his wife, Elizabeth.

 

The title, with the words, The Preacher’s Bride, conjured up images of a soppy romance. I’m so glad the book wasn’t like that at all.

Given the fact that we are dealing with characters who follow the Puritanical way of life, even the descriptions of married passion are understated and implied. 

 

As a work of Christian fiction, the message of trusting God and of Christ’s unfathomable love for the least among us is beautifully brought out.

Book Review: HOW SWEET THE SOUND

Title: How Sweet the Sound

Author: Tara Sharp
Publisher: Sweet Lemon Drop Press
Pages: 108

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The book begins in Pittsburgh in 1875. A nondescript orphanage is witness to the nuptials of Cleve Wilson and Mary Bone. It’s not a binding marriage, considering the minister is a snotty 10-year-old kid, and Cleve and Mary are both only 7. 

But for the little bride and groom, it is as binding as could be, and they take their vows seriously. Standing up for each other and supporting each other. But the romance is short lived.

Eleven years later, the authors take us to Washington. The kids have grown up, but the bridal couple have been separated. Mary remains in the orphanage, where she and the other girls are mistreated and made to work long hours doing the laundry. Cleve has been adopted by William and Cora Barlow of Montana, who had lost their 17-year-old son, and were looking forward to having a young child help them cope with their grief.

The separation is upsetting for both of them, and they both close themselves to joy and hope. Their only solace is the memory of singing the refrain of the old hymn, Amazing Grace, together.

When the overworked Mary’s arm is crushed in a mangler, she is deemed useless to work and is cast out of the orphanage. A priest at a church helps her to sign up as a mail order bride. One of the men has written on behalf of his son, Cleve Barlow. Mary, who has now changed her surname, takes the first name as a sign from God and decides to go ahead, even though he may not be her Cleve at all.

Going to Montana, Mary recognises Cleve immediately. But he does not recognise her. Mary finds him a changed man, hardened and unwilling to open himself up to any happiness. Will they find joy together? Will Cleve accept his new destiny as the son of William Barlow?

The tone of the book was sweet and indulgent. This was a mail order romance, a genre in its own right, as I’ve come to know, judging from the number of books of the kind available. So there is no real criticism of the atrocities that little orphans suffer at orphanages.

It was highly sweet and a simplistic view of sorts. Both Cleve and Mary could have changed in the intervening years.

There was no real antagonist except Cleve’s unwillingness to open himself up. The ending seemed a little too pat for me. Still a sweet story.

Book Review: THE HOUSE ON FOSTER HILL

Title: The House on Foster Hill
Author: Jaime Jo Wright
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Pages: 352

It was the cover of the book, with a piano at the bottom of it a beautiful winding staircase, that had drawn me into this book, and it was the cozy mystery that invited me to stay. I was intrigued to find out how the lives of Ivy Thorpe and Kaine Prescott were connected a hundred years apart.

The book is written in the third person past tense point of view of Ivy Thorpe a hundred years ago, and that of Kaine Prescott in the present day. Both these women have been affected by past tragedies, and their sadness is aggravated on coming into contact with Foster Hill.

Ivy assists her father, Dr Thorpe, in medical emergencies and post mortems. She lost her brother in a tragic accident twelve years ago. At that time, she also lost touch with their chidlhoood friend, Joel Cunningham, an orphan. Since then, she has developed a morbid fascination with death. Joel has since returned to the town as the Sherriff’s deputy.

When an unidentified woman is found dead in a hollow in an oak tree near Foster House, Ivy feels very distressed on her account. Learning that the dead woman had given birth just weeks before, she returns to Foster House to find the baby, and is savagely attacked. Determined to find and save the baby, Ivy puts her own life in danger.

Kaine lost her husband, Danny, two years ago, in an accident in which he lost control of his car. Investigations revealed that he had narcotic substances in his blood. Kaine insists that her husband was never a drug user, and that it is therefore a murder. Meanwhile, she is also being stalked. The police believe that she suffers from trauma, and refuse to open Danny’s case, dismissing it as suicide.

Scarred by her tragedy and suffering badly from depression, she decides to move across states to her hometown in Wisconsin, where an unscrupulous realtor cons her into buying Foster House, a dilapidated house that is reputed to be haunted, and that has was the scene of a crime 100 years ago. 

The body of an unidentified woman had been discovered there and Ivy, who had become more than a little interested in the life of the ill-fated woman, had been severely assaulted there.

When Kaine gets there, she realizes that the house is unlivable, dilapidated, and worse, it seems, haunted. Plus, the stalking continues, and Kaine wonders why she seems to attract trouble. In her grandfather’s hometown, she is befriended by Joy, a woman who manages a local store, and Grant Jesse, the romantic interest for Kaine.

Their parallel lives meet when Kaine finds a copy of Dickens’ Great Expectations under the floorboards of the house. The book contains a woman’s writing in the margins. 

The text seems to suggest that the woman was in deep trouble and was calling out for help. It is the same copy that had propelled Ivy to invest in the predicament of the dead woman.

Both women become aware that there is someone out there who will go to any extent to hurt them. Even as their lives are in danger, they are determined to solve the mystery of Foster Hill House. But time is running out, and their unnamed enemy is getting closer. Will it be too late for them, as it for the unidentified woman who was killed in Foster Hill House?

Love enters the lives of Kaine and Ivy in the person of Grant Jesse for Kaine, and Joel Cunningham for Ivy.

Ivy is an unconventional character. She is courageous, prone to unorthodox exclamations and helps her father in post-mortems. I found Ivy more interesting than Kaine, especially since the house was creepier in her day. 

Besides, I felt that Ivy had been actually assaulted. The stalking that Kaine experiences pales in comparison.

By association and on his own strength, Joel felt much stronger than Grant Jesse who doesn’t appear to be a strong character, even though the author tried hard to speak of his strength and  bravery. Grant is supposed to have some experience as a counsellor, which is why, Kaine surmises, he can see through her and he knows exactly what is happening to her. Trouble is, we're not convinced.

The dead Danny doesn’t come alive as a character. Even when he was alive, he was rather lifeless. Of course, the only time we meet him is in Kaine’s memories and even then not so often or so vividly either. You don’t get any impression of deep love between him and Kaine.

Even stranger, she hardly meets Grant and her heart seems to pound. I couldn't understand why. Grant was thoroughly uninspiring and insipid.

There were some errors. In one place, there was the word, emblazed, instead of emblazoned. Kaine is said to have heralded from San Diego, instead of hailed from. In one place, Detective Tamara Hanson is referred to as male in one paragraph.

Patti, the librarian, is referred to, quite unnecessarily, in my opinion, as a gargoyle, while Mr Mason, the curator of the local museum, is described as adorable, in a curator sort of way. What is that supposed to mean?

The writing was okay, rather tepid, I would say. It would have greatly improved in the first person points of view of both women.

The pace was slow and repetitive. The Gothic effort that the author strove to achieve didn’t quite come off well.

Even the element of Christian faith came out as totally forced. Neither Joy nor Grant seemed convincing when they spoke about their beliefs. Their talks on faith appeared unreal. It seemed as if they were either talking in a trance, or reading from a script. No conviction at all.

I can understand Joy never reading her grandmother’s diary scribbled on the pages of Great Expectations, in deference to her wishes, but for Kaine to refrain from reading through the unidentified woman’s diary, when there could have been clues to explain the mystery there, seemed foolish.

The mystery took far too long to get resolved. The book could have been shorter and tighter. Ivy spent an excessively long period of time in feeling upset with Joel even after knowing the compulsions that had driven him away. Her personal drama kept getting in the way of the solving of the mystery.

I was rather disappointed with this one.

(I read a Kindle edition of this book through NetGalley.)

Book Review: GUIDE ME HOME

Title: Guide Me Home

Author: Kim Vogel Sawyer

Publisher: WaterBrook

Pages: 352

Guide Me Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer follows her own well-established stylistic tradition in which the heroine is a girl of strong faith while the hero is one who does not yet know of God’s love and mercy.

Rebekah Hardin is the oldest of seven children. She lives with her hardworking parents and her younger sisters. The family, far from well off, suffers further after the death of Rebekah’s younger brother, 15-year-old Andy, who died in the local tourist attraction, Mammoth Caves, with Rebekah’s mother becoming a shadow of her former self.

Rebekah feels responsible for Andy’s death. She had snapped, “Get lost,” to him at their last interaction, following which Andy entered the caves and really got lost there. Rebekah feels that if Andy were laid to rest in the woods near their home, with a headstone, it would be a fitting gesture and give her mother closure. 

Since they don’t have the $26 required to buy the marker, Rebekah gets a job as a guide at Mammoth Cave, taking rich folks to show them around the Caves.

One of Rebekah’s sisters, Cissy, who resents her life and longs for a prince to rescue her out of poverty. Her stubbornness gets her into trouble, seeing love where there isn’t any, and not being able to see it where it exists in abundance.

Meanwhile, university student Devlin Bale comes to Mammoth Caves to chart out a more accurate map of the caves and to further the political ambitions of his professor-father. Devlin hails from a very wealthy family. His world is as far removed from Rebekah’s as possible and yet the two come together.

As the two come close, they are watched over by Tolly Sandford, the elderly black guide of Mammoth Caves, who feels responsible for Rebekah’s safety.

But will the friendship survive the class differences between the two? What will happen when Tolly and Rebekah get to know of Devlin’s agenda for the caves? Will he accept the faith that drives Rebekah? And will Cissy get into trouble on account of her attitude?

The story is told in the third person past tense point of view of Rebekah, Devlin, Cissy and Tolly.

The author creates a world, filling it with the details of life as it must have been in that time. It is a world in which women can’t vote and professional jobs such as guides are the preserve of men alone.

We learn more about the era from the fact that Rebekah’s parents have seven living and four babies stillborn and 15-year-old Andy dead. Life is hard and they are pitted in a battle for survival against nature.

I also liked the author’s trademark of shifting viewpoints in the middle of a situation.

I found Rebekah to be a sweet character who puts her family before her own needs. The caves have swallowed her brother, and she displays courage in her willingness to seek employment there.

I liked Rebekah’s description of a good marriage, such as the one her parents have. Sparks that never need somebody puffing at them to make them flare up again, sparks that didn’t die even when hardships came along.

The Mammoth Caves, and their history, form a large portion of this story. I was surprised to note that these caves are real, not imaginary. The narrative, as it relates to the caves, is very well told. We get an idea of the excitement and intrigue generated by the caves as also the very real danger they pose.

While this was a sweet book, I didn't find it as engaging as one of her previous books, Echoes of Mercy.

(I received a copy of Guide Me Home from WaterBrook Multnomah.)

Book Review: A FLIGHT OF ARROWS

Title: A Flight of Arrows: A Novel
Author: Lori Benton
Publisher: WaterBrook
Pages: 400
GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As I read A Flight of Arrows: A Novel, I thought about The Wood’s Edge, the previous book in The Pathfinders series, and was once again reminded of the quiet yet strong faith and the conviction that bursts forth from the tone of the omniscient narrator in both books. Both books are imbued with the same strong air of comfort that comes of knowing that our fates are held in the hands of a loving, forgiving God.

The style that is followed is similar to that followed in The Wood’s Edge. There are chapters for each of the years from 1776 onwards. Sometimes though there are multiple chapters in a particular year, written from the third-person point of view of different characters.

The book begins where the previous one ended. More than a year has passed since William ran away from home, unwilling to face the truth about his origins. He has made the cause of the British his own, while Reginald Aubrey fights on the American side, the side the Oneidas have aligned themselves with. It is one more wedge that divides them.

For Good Voice and Stone Thrower, and Two Hawks, the sadness is even more painful, knowing that their son and brother, for who they have longed all these years, has once again distanced himself from them. This time the distance is not just physical. 

A mountain of agonizing self-doubt and an utter unwillingness to forgive the man he called father holds him back. Nor can he come to terms with the fact that he is indeed Indian, he who has grown up believing that he is white.

And yet, the three will not stop hoping and waiting and trusting that William, their very own He-is-Taken, will be restored to them.

Anna is equally tormented at knowing that William won’t return and that Two Hawks and his parents as well as Reginald are denied the peace that must be theirs.

Meanwhile, Reginald’s refusal to accept Two Hawks as person or even as a potential son-in-law drives a wedge between him and Anna.

There is Strikes-the-Water, a girl who clearly resents Anna for her place in Two Hawks’ life.

The characters are all suffering. Reginald, bent under the weight of William’s refusal to forgive, cannot bring himself to accept forgiveness for himself. William physically runs away from the truth, only to find that he cannot outrun the truth, that the truth will find a way to enter his life.

Gradually, and it is a very slow process of realization that is beautifully handled, William begins to realize that his heart is not on the British side, that he is called upon to protect his people, Anna and Lydia, even Reginald, the man he thought of as his father, and his true family, Good Voice, Stone Thrower and Two Hawks, though he doesn’t believe that he will live long enough to be united with them.

Once again, I marveled at the manner in which Lori has married historical fact with fiction. It is after all a tumultuous and significant time in American history. America, as a nation, is about to be born.

Much of the book is taken up by the preparation for war and the actual skirmishes and active combat that takes place between the soldiers of the British Crown and the rebels who want independence.

While I read the long chapters relating to the battles, it was the chapters in which William is found and through which the family takes fledgling steps to one another that I loved the most. Lori has a knack for relationships, especially filial ones, that tugs at your heart.

The ending is heartrending because even though they escape relatively unscathed from the war between the British loyalists and the rebels, the Senecas, who fought on the side of the British, have lost many of their own soldiers and are demanding vengeance. 

They take Reginald prisoner, but Stone Thrower, with both his sons by his side, mount an exciting rescue mission. How it turns out is something that you have to read yourself to believe.

This is historical and Christian inspirational fiction at its best.

("I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.")

Book Review: DELILAH

Title: Delilah
Author: Angela Hunt
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Pages: 352

I vaguely knew of the Samson and Delilah story from the Old Testament of the Bible. Years ago, in Sunday School, we read of the story, and all that remains of that reading is a faint memory of a woman called Delilah who is loved by strongman Samson, and how she betrays him by exposing his weakness to the enemy.

That reading had given me the impression that Delilah was a prostitute. Here, Angela Hunt paints her in gentler hues and we see the traumatic back story that prompted Delilah to betray Samson. We understand her motivation for doing what she did.

I enjoyed this fictional retelling of this Old Testament story. It was a good reminder that people are all too human and frail and prone to error, and that all too often, we make the wrong decisions, plagued by poor motivation.

Initially Delilah came across as more likeable than Samson, whose only motivation seemed to be to get a beautiful wife.

After the death of her father, Delilah’s mother marries Adinai, a prominent and wealthy yet kind man whose son, Achish, resents their presence. After Adinai’s death, Achish sells Delilah’s mother’s and maintains Delilah herself as his sexual slave, violating her every night. The young Delilah loves her mother deeply and is determined to rescue her from a life of slavery.

Escaping from their home, Delilah’s first thought is to save her mother. While on the run, she encounters three brothers who help her onward. 

It is in Chapter 13 that Delilah and Samson arrive at the same place, though they don’t meet. It is the wedding of Samson and the innkeeper's daughter. Achish is there too.

Samson is disillusioned by his bride-to-be, and he leaves without even claiming his bride. Delilah is anxious for Samson to take up her cause and avenge her mother’s humiliation and death in servitude. She tells herself, Unlike the men of Judah, I would never betray him. It is an ironically prescient statement.

Because, as we know from the Bible, eventually, she does betray him. But at least here we know why. The reasoning may or may not be true, but at least it makes Delilah seem more human.

The brothers take her to the widow who takes Delilah under her wing at the request of the three brothers. The widow, who has deep faith in Adonai, teaches Delilah how to grow flax, and then how to spin yarn and weave cloth. Living with her, Delilah gets a mother figure and a home. But she never forgets her own mother.

While she lives with the widow, Delilah gives birth to a son, the child of Achish. She feels little love for the boy who she names Yagil. The child’s care is enthusiastically taken up by the elderly widow, who remains unnamed through the book.

And all along, Delilah longs to win over Samson to her cause, to get him on her side and to fight Achish and seek vengeance for her mother who dies even as Delilah struggles to earn enough silver to buy her back.

Upon a day, when Samson comes to drink at their well, Delilah who is living there with her son after the widow's death, lures him with her beauty and by magnifying her attractions.

Samson and Delilah fall in love with each other. They begin to live together and Samson becomes the father figure that Yagil never had. For a while, all is good. Delilah convinces herself that this happiness will last forever.

But it is not to be. The fear of Achish endures. One day he espies her at the well. He threatens to break her again, rape her endlessly, unless she brings Samson to him. With her back against the wall, she is unsure if Samson can beat the Philistine army. If his Adonai could accomplish such a seemingly impossible task. So she makes a deal with the rules of Philistia that she will lead them to Samson, but his life must be spared, Achish killed and herself reinstated to her stepfather’s glory.

What happens next we all know, but it is the manner in which Hunt tells the tale, while simultaneously causing us to feel for both Samson and Delilah, who are, in a sense, both victims, that makes them both real people. 

This book caused me to read up on the stories of Delilah and Samson in the Bible. There I learned that Samson was to have saved Israel from the Philistine oppressors. That was the promise given by Adonai to Samson's parents who had been childless for many years before Adonai blessed them with the miracle of this child.

I liked the characters of Hitzig, Regnar and Warati, the three brothers. They were immensely likeable, and their willingness to stand up for her showed that they were good men.

The chapters alternate between the first person points of view of Delilah and Samson.

Israel is under Philistine rule and the Jews have absolutely no rights. The author weaves the political situation of the time and the attendant conflicts in very smoothly.

I could not understand how Samson could kill 30 Philistine men for their garments and still be perceived as having done the righteous thing.

Rei was an understated character who was always with Samson. He was a servant of Samson, but it is in the end that I realised who he really was.

Samson’s character too undergoes a change. From being brash, he became more gentle and sensitive, in my opinion. More than the love of Delilah, I think, it was the love of Yagil that made him that way.

In the end, I felt sorry for both of them. For how things turned out. 

I would like to recommend this book to anyone who loves Biblical fiction.

(I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House. I read it on NetGalley.)

Book Review: BLOOD OF A STONE

Title: Blood of a Stone

Author: Jeanne Lyet Gassman

Publisher: Tuscany Press

Pages: 333

Blood of a Stone projects the blood shed through violence against the blood willingly shed by Jesus.

Demetrios is a slave, sold to his Roman master, Marcus, by his own father. As a slave, Demetrios is ill treated and starved by Marcus. The brand of a slave that his master sears into his flesh is, in truth, seared upon his very soul. 

When he kills Marcus in self defence, Elazar, Marcus’ Jewish servant, helps him to dispose of the body. Together they escape to Nabatea, a region free of Roman authority. 

Eventually they reach Tiberias, settling there as traders and caravan drivers to the Holy City, Jerusalem. As their business becomes profitable, many ask to join their caravan. One of them is Judas Iscariot, who wishes to hire their services to fulfil the spiritual prophecy of the Son of Man entering Jerusalem, seated on a white donkey.

Demetrios cannot shake off the sense of guilt he suffers at having killed Marcus. Even though he is now free, in his mind, he is not. He is afraid of every stranger, afraid of retribution, of the law catching up with him.

It is in Chapter 9 that we hear of John the Baptist and Jesus for the first time. When Elazar wants to walk out of their thriving partnership in order to follow Jesus, and even later, confesses his part in disposing of the body of Marcus, it sets Demetrios on edge. He begins to fear that Elazar will be his undoing, and that Jesus will betray him to the Romans.

Jesus’ coming spells hope for Demetrios who seeks love in the wrong places or so Elazar says. But what is Demetrios to do, when Jesus Himself seems like a charlatan to him.

The slave consults a sorceress, Endorah, to quiet the fears and misgivings that arise from the guilt of killing Marcus. The blood from the stone he used to still a life weighs heavy on him. Endorah tells him that he must kill Jesus if he wishes to be free. And so begins Demetrios’ quest to kill Jesus.

The author does a great job of painting vivid word pictures of the surrounding countryside but her tendency to keep using the same first names multiple times in a single paragraph, when a pronoun would have worked better, rankles. In one case, there were four mentions of Demetrios in a single paragraph. Fortunately, she gets a grip on this problem after only a few pages.

Once she gets comfortable with her story, she draws you on. I found myself reading page after page, rather than shutting the book. The writing got better and it felt as if I had travelled back in time to the era when Christ walked.

But there were some inconsistencies that struck me. Even though Judas offers to pay for 13 people to join Demetrios’ caravan, eventually Jesus and His disciples do not enter Jerusalem with them, and we are given no explanation as to the change of plans.

Also, in chapter 9, we are told that rumours abound about John the Baptist and about Jesus. But the author leaves us in the dark about the passage of time during this occurrence. So we hear of some gossip relating to the Jewish prophet living in the wilderness who foretells the coming of the messiah. Then over the course of the cold winter months, Demetrios hears stories of the miracles. Elazar leaves the caravan to follow Jesus. And just a few days later, Judas asks to join their caravan. Shouldn’t three years have passed between the news about Jesus’ baptism at the hands of John the Baptist and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, seated on the donkey? But there is no telling how much time has actually passed. We get a sense of vagueness.

The resemblance to Biblical events is only in passing. For example, the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which Christians celebrate as Palm Sunday, is missing. Also, when Jesus goes into the wilderness to pray, the Bible tells us that He prayed in the Garden at Gethsemane, but the author makes no mention of that.

Very early in the book, the author places before us the dichotomy between the Roman god Mercury that Demetrios adopts as his own and Elazar’s God.

The author paints a realistic picture of the crowds that used to follow Jesus. Not all those gathered were true believers. There were many there with their own agenda and Demetrios’ confusion, distrust and fear sit well among them.

The author’s descriptions are forbidding and ominous, yet beautiful, much as I imagine the landscape of Israel to be. The description of the lepers was particularly heart-rending.

While the writing is beautiful, and manages to evoke just the right atmosphere, I got the feeling that Demetrios was getting all worked up for no reason at all. His paranoia is so strong that he fails to realize that Jesus poses no threat to him.

The idea of seeing Christ through the eyes of a Gentile slave was interesting. But the author takes far too long to introduce Demetrios to Christ. The life-changing transformation that would have elevated this book comes too late, literally at the feet of the crucified Jesus, to sound convincing.

(I read a Kindle edition of this book through NetGalley.)