For the most, except for recent history, women have been excluded from the biblical and historical narrative. A majority of women have remained nameless and faceless. The lucky few who have been named and allowed brief biographies, but we know little of them beyond the basic details that we are told.
In Bathsheba: Reluctant Beauty (A Dangerous Beauty Novel), by Angela Hunt, Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah, a soldier in King David’s army. Watching her as she bathes, David is taken by her. Feeling guilty for forcing her to break her marriage vows and for the coming child that was not fathered by Bathsheba’s husband, David sends Uriah to the front, where he is killed. David married Bathsheba and adds her to his harem. The prophet Nathan has already spoke of not just of her future, but the future of their son who will be king. But it will not easy with the one two punch of a dark curse threatening David’s dynasty and many who hide personal ambition behind the polite smile.
Will the curse come to pass? Will Bathsheba watch her son ascend to the throne or will he descend to the violence and chaos of David’s world?
I read Ms. Hunt’s first book earlier in the year. What I like about her books is the delicate balance of an engaging narrative with historical details that make the story and the characters come alive. While the novel could have easily been bogged down into a documentary or a history book, Ms. Hunt has the enviable talent of telling a well written story that easily transports the viewer back to a time and place that does not exist anymore.
I recommend it.
Writergurlny 