Queenmaker
A Novel of King David's Queen
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4.3 • 10 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The only woman in the Bible who is noted to have loved a man, Queen Michal was King David's childhood sweetheart, his first wife, and daughter of his great friend and greater enemy, King Saul. Married to and then abandoned by David at age 14, Michal is forced to marry him again and become his first queen ten years later. Thrown into transition and turmoil, Queen Michal resists the ambition and greed that have become integral to David's personality and kingship.
Acting nobly as his queen, but refusing to compromise her soul, Michal is drawn in friendship to the women in the king's court. Among his concubines and mistresses is Bathsheba, who becomes the mother of David's son, Solomon. In Queenmaker, Michal emerges as a wise and loving woman whose female family sustains her and establishes the spiritual foundation of the entire kingdom.
Queenmaker depicts in unforgettable detail the characters of one of the greatest periods in Biblical history-their public deed and private thoughts-and gives readers the court of the kings as only a woman could see it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Biblical history is rewritten once again in this imaginative if overheated retelling of King David's life as seen though the eyes of his unhappy first wife. Michal, the daughter of Saul, is married to golden boy David when she is only 13, but even before the wedding her father grows wary of David's power and plots to murder his daughter's about-to-be husband. Michal helps David escape and for her efforts is disowned by her father and married off a second time to a farmer, Phaltiel. In time, she learns to love Phaltiel, and when David comes to claim her 10 years later, she must be dragged away and secretly vows vengeance. For 40 years, she is the first among all of his wives and concubines, and witnesses the intrigues, tragedies and triumphs of his celebrated reign. Through it all, she waits for her chance and seems to find it when David woos beautiful young Bathsheba, the wife of one of his warriors, and makes her pregnant. But Michal, childless herself, finds she loves Bathsheba too much to betray her and devotes herself to grooming Bathsheba's son, Solomon, for the throne of Israel. The fabled slayer of Goliath comes off as a conceited, bloodthirsty womanizer in Edghill's breathless tale, with Michal the power behind the throne, planning and plotting quietly with the sweet demeanor of a submissive wife as her mask. The novel provides a tantalizing glimpse into the past, but fails to deliver full-blooded characterizations or sufficient period flavor, substituting emotion for detail and jarring images for true style ("I laughed until tears dropped off my cheeks to make holes in the dust"). FYI: Queenmaker was originally published by Xlibris in 1999.
Customer Reviews
Powerful debut
I loved this book... In the style of THE RED TENT, the author gives us a feminine perspective on the biblical stories of old, weaving doctrine with historical accuracy, mythology and prose! Her two consecutive books illustrate a much stronger writer (especially wisdoms daughter), but she sets her tone in this first novel with stunning beauty!