Biblical /
Family Drama
The Wilderness
(Out of Egypt)
BC
As Moses leads
the Israelites out of Egypt, we follow the life of Noa and her four sisters as
they begin that historic journey in search of the Promised Land. Noa isn't the
eldest, but she is the cleverest. When their father is killed for, allegedly,
working on the Sabbath, Noa quickly realises that lands promised to him and his
family would be forfeit as there is no male heir (though there would have been
two brothers, they were both slaughtered by the cruel Pharaoh). Despite opposition, Noa is determined to take
the case to the various councils to fight for her rights.
All of the
major events and obstacles to the Israelite's forty year flight are included:
the crossing of the Red Sea, the Commandments issued to Moses and The Golden
Calf. The author’s atmospheric writing carries us along on this journey, not
just of the horde of people but also the life journey of Noa and her sisters as
they grow to womanhood, are found husbands and have children of their own, It
is an epic undertaking and, in this, the author succeeds in conveying the
difficulties of such a massive undertaking: the feuds, loves, small but
significant incidents that shapes her characters. It is also a book about the
centuries-old struggle for women's rights and Noa's frustrations are well
portrayed.
A map of the
journey at the beginning would have been most useful. For the narrative itself,
however, I feel the author has been badly let down by the editor(s): one or two
typos are acceptable and one or two incorrect spacings between paragraphs also.
But there were numerous occasions of words being run into each other – in one
case, three words had no spaces between them. The simplest of spell checks
would have highlighted these errors. Capitalising the first three words of each
chapter is perfectly okay (though I
don't personally like it) but not for every new section within each chapter. I'm also afraid to say that the cover
did not particularly attract me, although the depiction of Noa did set me up
for a mental image of her throughout. The design, however, did not give that
feel of professionalism.
And that is the
overall problem here: a potentially very good book marred by an unprofessional
editorial approach. Alas for this reason I can only suggest a 3 star Amazon
rating, which is a shame because the story itself should have merited at least
4 stars. I do strongly suggest a re-edit and reprint with a more eye-catching
cover. The investment would be well worth it as there were some lovely
passages which were a delight to read: “the wind stroked back the waves”
(of the Red Sea) as an example.
Recommended for
those who have an interest in Biblical history.
© Richard
Tearle
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