Book Review - The Ark and the Dove

We know a bit about Noah and the flood. Not a lot, but this is clearly a story God wants His children to know. That is why He inspired man to include it in the Bible. Jill Eileen Smith takes this bit of knowledge and combines it with thorough research to give us this fictional account of what life may have been like for Noah and his family as they prepared for, endured, and thrived after life on the ark. We see the experience through the eyes of Emzara, wife of Noah. Zara must find wives for her sons and guide these young women as they support their husbands through the years of ridicule from neighbors, tense months of caring for the animals as they are all penned in on the ark, and the process of repopulating the earth once the waters have receded. These are all elements we rarely stop to consider, and yet they are worth pondering. Smith has developed each character carefully in line with the narrative of the Bible, even following through to the dispersal of the sons through the Tower of Babel and on through history. The Ark and the Dove spans a great era of biblical history with great insight and attention to detail.

The Ark and the Dove by Jill Eileen Smith is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House           Christian Book           Amazon           Walmart           Barnes & Noble

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Daughter of Eden

Daughter of Eden opens in a gloriously visceral manner, with the mists of the ground and the tickle of the river dancing upon the reader’s skin to transport us to that glorious garden and make it more real than I have ever experienced. Jill Eileen Smith writes to immerse us as completely as possible in the birthplace of God’s interaction with his creation. It is a gift to be savored sentence by sentence, sensation by sensation, and to really connect with the root of humanity. Smith slices into the Genesis we know and peels back a layer to reveal plausible insights into the lives and intentions of individuals I have never so thoroughly examined. The fall of man and inevitable change of relationships and personal perceptions are laid bare before the reader. I am sure it is possible to read Daughter of Eden as fiction and for enjoyment. However, I am not able to do that. Each section, sometimes just an individual sentence, needed to be mulled and savored before I could progress. It is worth every bit of the work of reading and rereading.

Daughter of Eden by Jill Eileen Smith is available now from your favorite local retailer or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book            Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Prince and the Prodigal

Jill Eileen Smith writes exquisite biblical fiction, and she has done it again with The Prince and the Prodigal. The Old Testament story of Jacob’s favored son, Joseph, comes to life with her words that help us view his experiences and those of prodigal Judah with fresh eyes to see and ears to hear that “… not only had God fulfilled his dreams, but He’d given him the greater blessing of reunion and reconciliation.”

In reading the account directly from the Bible, I know I was always quick to judge Joseph as the betrayed brother who is eventually redeemed and restored by God. It is easy to miss some very important aspects of the greater narrative. In dismissing the brothers as evil and driven by their hatred to commit sins tantamount to murder, it seems I’ve long overlooked the heart work God did in Judah’s life to bring him to the point of kneeling before the brother he so grievously wronged and begging mercy for youngest brother Benjamin, who was the only remaining son of Jacob’s beloved Rachel. There had to be some exceptional work in the hearts of all of the sons of Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah to lead them to the point where they would treat this remaining son of Rachel with care that spoke to Joseph’s heart and led to the kind of reconciliation that allowed Jacob to spend the remainder of his days in fellowship with all of his sons. Smith pens this book with great care to reflect the heart ache, the heart work, and the heart’s joy as God fulfilled His plan to love and care for His children.

The Prince and the Prodigal by Jill Eileen Smith is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Bookhouse        Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Miriam's Song

 There are a handful of authors who come to mind when I think of biblical fiction; Jill Eileen Smith, author of series like The Wives of King David and Wives of the Patriarchs, is high on that list for a very good reason. Smith has a knack for taking women who are briefly mentioned in the history of our faith and making them feel real to our generation. She does this once again in Miriam's Song, walking us through the life of the woman we tend to think of as Moses's sister without realizing what her reality may have looked like.

From the time of her famous brother's birth, throughout her life in Egypt and the time of their deliverance from the hands of Pharaoh, Miriam serves her people and her God with all that is in her. Still, her heart aches for more. He speaks to her in dreams, but she longs to meet Him face to face the way that He meets with Moses. The delicate handling of this complex situation is what singles Jill Eileen Smith from the crowd and makes Miriam's Song a must-read.

Miriam's Song is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online from the following:

Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and the publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.