We finally got into the meat of the plot after about 4-5 hours of listening. The beginning of the book seemed to go on forever before anything good happened. I came out knowing more than when I went in. I guess that would be the saving grace for this book.
I did learn more about the Story of Esther than I knew before, that is for sure. The narrator was good match for this reading. Granted the story picked up about half way through, but even "The night with the king" was anticlimactic (no pun intended). Every pillar, every wall, every floor, every garment, every piece of jewelry and not once but over and over again. As it is based on the life of Queen Esther, the story could not be changed much to add more intrigue, so I found that the author filled up the hours with tons.and I mean tons.of descriptions. This was the first historical fiction novel I have listened too and although it was probably wonderful for some, it dragged for me. Award-winning narrator Suzanne Toren immerses listeners in the captivating world of ancient Persia. Tommy Tenney painstakingly researched the life of Esther to uncover the riveting details behind this woman's courageous ascent to the throne. It is a tale of persecution and benevolence, death and rebirth, and ultimately, an illustration of faith. Now, in present day, another Hadassah, descendant of the bridal candidate, has been given these stories, passed down from generation to generation, of Esther's fateful time in history. to one special candidate for new bride to King Xerxes. "One night with the King changes everything." This is the message Esther, later known as Queen Hadassah, wrote circa 492 B.C. Favorably compared to Anita Diamant's The Red Tent for its unexpected plot twists, Hadassah is the fictional account of the Bible's Esther, the Jewish peasant girl who became queen of Persia. Leah is delegated to the "rejected" category, virtually a prisoner for life in the king's palace, with no hope and no future.Best-selling author and inspirational speaker Tommy Tenney teams with Mark Andrew Olsen to deliver a mesmerizing tale of historical fiction.
The successor to Xerxes has no love for the Jews, and when he discovers the Star of David medallion on Leah (the young queen's candidate Esther wrote to in Hadassah), he is outraged. And then she learns of information that could have tragic repercussions on Jews living in Iraq, where Queen Esther had laid her own life on the line to save her people. The inner pain she feels as her beloved land and people are terrorized by political strife and bombings is made even more personal as her own father comes under attack. The modern-day Hadassah, introduced to readers in the previous novel, is the wife of Israel's Prime Minister, with all its reflected power but also its isolation.
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