Queenmaker: A Novel of King David's Queen - Hardcover

Edghill, India

3.83

1,846 ratings by Goodreads

9780312289188: Queenmaker: A Novel of King David's Queen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312289189 ISBN 13: 9780312289188

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2002

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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.

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Review:

Turning inside out the traditional view of David as a beloved king and gentle author of the Psalms, India Edghill's well-written debut novel Queenmaker paints a dark picture of the lauded biblical hero as seen through the eyes of his first wife, Michal. David's silver-tongued way with words captures Michal's heart, but her marriage to him is soon annulled by her half-mad father, King Saul. She's packed off to marry the widowed farmer Phaltiel, whom Michal soon learns to love. When David gains the throne of Israel and sends for Michal, she discovers that David has become a king who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Through courage and wit, Michal must carve out a new life as the queen and wife of a man she now despises. Edghill isn't afraid to change biblical narrative to suit her story, and paints David as a selfish, grasping leader whose feet of clay are all too evident in this tale. Those who like their biblical narrative served straight up and their heroes untarnished may be disturbed by this reassessment; those who like a good story and a new spin on biblical champions, however, will enjoy this unvarnished look at one of Judaism's and Christianity's most lauded personalities. --Cindy Crosby

About the Author:

India Edghill lives in the Hudson Valley in upstate New York. Queenmaker is her first novel

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