Eight-year-old Shulle lives with her father in a small town. She
adores her father, but he has peculiar tendencies. Even as a child,
she helps him lead a relatively normal life. His brother, Lord
Shebna, comes to visit. He is an advisor to King Hezekiah whose son,
Nasseh, later King Manasseh, shows the same peculiar tendencies as
Shulle’s father.
Believing Shulle can
communicate with Nasseh, he induces her and her father to come live
with him and become part of the court. As predicted, Shulle is able
to deal with Nasseh’s peculiarities, and he becomes very attached
to her. Then Shebna puts his plan into action. Belit, Shebna’s
servant, is a witch devoted to the starry hosts. Seeing Belit’s
power, Shulle turns away from Yahweh and pulls Nasseh with her.
As king, Manasseh,
commits horrors. He marries Shullle and now she must also cope with
the cruelty unleashed by Manasseh’s friendship with Assyria’s
crown prince. This leads to a long a difficult path for Shulle, but
also to redemption.
This is a well
researched book. The story tracks scripture closely. One element the
author adds to the story is the depiction of Nasseh as autistic, and
Shulle’s father as well. She explains this decision in a note. I
thought it was brilliant. Nasseh does fit t
he description of a person
on the autism spectrum, and it explains not only his bad behavior,
but his redemption.
I highly recommend
this book. It’s a good story. The characters are well drawn and the
background is authentic.
I received this book
from Waterbrook Multnomah for this review.
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