Hadassah, Queen Esther of Persia Kindle Edition

The Book of Esther is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It is a mix of a Cinderella story and a political thriller. In this retelling. Hadassah dreams of marrying Shamir, the rabbi’s son. Her hopes are dashed when she is taken to King Xerxes palace to be a candidate for queen. Hadassah is forced to hide her identity as a Jew and changes her name to Esther. She rises to the position of queen. Esther gradually realizes that her role as queen could save her people from danger. Hadassah is portrayed as an innocent and reluctant young girl who is forced to enter the king’s harem. Esther’s beauty captivates the king, and he makes her his queen. As queen, there are many duties she has to oversee. She works hard to establish a caring relationship with her step-siblings. The novel also portrays a loving marriage between Esther and King Xerxes. Hadassah, Queen Esther of Persia has courtly intrigue, romance and religious conflict. The author does an excellent job in fleshing out Queen Esther’s story. She has given the reader a detailed portrait of Hadassah’s origins. One example is how she became an orphan and lived under Uncle Moredecai’s household. I also found it interesting that Moredecai is portrayed as a widower. The author does a fantastic job in weaving the biblical tale with known facts about King Xerxes. By the time the novel is over, the reader feels as if you have come to know King Xerxes and his family. I also thought that Hadassah’s relationship with her mother-in-law Queen Atossa was the best aspect of the novel. The only thing I did not like about the book was the Haman plot seemed very rushed. Still, Hadassah, Queen Esther of Persia is a feast for fans of biblical fiction! Mrs. Taylor has given us another refreshing retelling on one of the Bible’s most enduring heroines!

I really wanted to like this story. I tried to stick with it. I made it into about 40% in before I just called it quits. It should not be this hard for me to get through a story. The cover is beautiful and of course the name and synopsis drew me, but the story fell flat for me.

This is very well written and stays very close to biblical truths, author added some personal parts to make it fun and interesting to read! I really enjoyed this book and hope you will as we

What a beautiful story of one of my favorite women in the Old Testament! I loved everything about this novel, and though it left me emotional,I'm sure I will be reading it again and again.

I have loved and lived, cried and held my breath through every single one of Diana Wallis Taylor's fascinating biblical stories!

Amazing story telling, brings you back in time. What a great book this is

Esther is one of my favourite biblical stories for a number of reasons. On the outside, it’s a rags-to-riches fairytale—unknown girl captures the king’s eye and he makes her his queen. And yet, what a difficult situation for a young Jewish girl to be thrust into! And then there’s that thrilling scene where she boldly approaches Xerxes’ throne, risking death in order to save the Jewish people. I remember being absolutely enthralled the first time I heard the story in Sunday school.In spite of its potential, this book fell flat for me. For starters, the writing told a lot more than it showed, and in language that did little to stir my senses and emotions. It also presented a rather simplistic and romanticised version of Esther’s relationship with Xerxes. There was no complexity to it at all.But more than anything else, I felt that this story completely missed the opportunity to delve beyond the surface of the biblical account, both with the plot and the characters. Esther and Mordecai aged as the story progressed, but there was no personal or spiritual growth. The author didn’t explore motives, internal conflict, doubts, or anything else that would help me to think about these characters on a deeper level.The Bible also records that Esther “won the favour of everyone who saw her.” How did she win their favour? What gave her the combination of strength, wisdom, and gentleness that enabled her to do so in such circumstances? This story held no answers to those kinds of questions beyond a few lines about how she made polite conversation with the other concubines and made an effort to remember all their names.There are certainly more historical and day-to-day details compared to the biblical story, and if that’s what you’re looking for in your biblical fiction, then this might be a good choice for you. There’s background to Hadassah’s story, including how she came to live with her cousin; it fills in historical details such as food, travelling to Xerxes’ summer palace at Persepolis, and so on. But it skips over virtually all of the palace intrigue. I mean, a harem of women competing for the king’s favour, assassination plots, political one-upmanship—there’s so much to work with in this story, yet even the climax of the plot with Haman felt like a by-the-by.As I said, if you’re looking for biblical fiction that adds historical and background detail to the biblical account, then this book could be a good choice for you, but I want my biblical fiction to delve deeper, and this one just didn’t deliver for me.I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I'm amazed at the obedience of this young girl, and her faith when she is separated from her family, friends and church. The Jews showed respect for their rulers until they interfered with their religious beliefs. It's amazing how they used the wisdom of God to solve the problem without bloodshed.