Miriam by Mesu Andrews

This is a biblical novel. It is about the sister of Moses. She is the primary character. The author, Mesu Andrews, is the award-winning author of Love Amid the Ashes and numerous other novels. She has also written The Pharaoh's Daughter. She makes the Bible come alive for readers, because of her deep understanding of and love for it. She has done extensive research for this novel. In her forward, she notes how researching this book has "taken her into another world." Mesu andrews opens this book with her Note to the reader. He begins her novel with a Prologue, and gives readers a feel for this book. This book arranged in three parts, over 60 chapters. Each chaper begins with a Bible verse the corresponds to the timing of the chapter narrative. This is obviously to enable readers to read her novel in context of biblical history. AS she says her objective is to get readers to search the Bible itself that inspired this novel. Mesu Andrews ends with an Author's Note with reflections about the novel. She includes a Reader's Guide to stimulate group discussion.

I read through this novel quickly. It was what I expected, rich in biblical culture and history. I was taken to another time and to another culture. As this time and culture are alien to me, I often got lost in the plots and scenes. As this is hstorical fiction, I expected this. Reading this biblical novel has made me want more of that. Mesu Andrews specializes in biblical fiction and making the Bble come alive for readers. This book did do this for me. As I read, I was impressed with the faith that Miriam exhibits. As is intended by the author, this novel gives me a new appreciation for the Bible and its riches and stories. For my upcoming birth, I may inlude on my "Wish List" a couple of biblical novels. I was aware of Mesu Andrews from another book of hers that I own, about Hosea and Gomer his wife of prostitution, called Love In A Broken Vessel. I figured out that most of these events happened during the slavery of the Israelities because of the Bible verses that began each chapter. I like the Reader's Guide at the end of the book, simply because it gives me some of my talking points for this book review. The use of El Shaddai and Yahweh for God, shows that people during these times had a much better sense of God's holiness and majesty than we do today. Yet the book throbs with the growing awareness of the people of the love and goodness of God in everything. I wish Mesu Andrews would write a sequel of the Israelites' experiences of their 40 years of wilderness wandering.

I recommend this book for all those who like to read novels. It will introduce them to God and Who he is. It's a page-turner. I recommend this book for non-Christian fiction readers especially, to encourage them to read the Bible. I don't think reading Christian fiction should be a primary source of a Christian's spiritual diet, however. That's because most Christian novels offer an unrealistic view of CHristian life and experience. They also offer an unrealistic view of characters. Not all stories have happy endings. This novel has a happy ending, as expected. REading too many Christian novels can make us dissatisfied with our real-life loved ones and experiences. Read in moderation, though, these Christian novels are much better than most secular novels, especially those filled with illicit sex or violence.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Bloggingfor Books in exchange for my truthful review. I wasn't required to give a positive review of this book.