Sarah (Book #1 in Canaan Trilogy) by Marek Halter

 

Title:  Sarah (Book #1 – Canaan Trilogy)
Author: Marek Halter
Length: 336 pages

As usual, I’m a little behind in my posts here.  Sarah was my read for Hurricane Sandy; we lucked out and didn’t lose any power, but we did lose cable and internet.  So, we had plenty of light and a lack of external distractions (well, except for high winds and falling trees…) to encourage reading.  Needless to say, I powered through this book in about two days despite not really enjoying it as much as I wanted to.

One part of the book that I found exceedingly annoying is the fact that the reader is basically reminded every two pages just how beautiful Sarah is.  And she’s beautiful for her figure, face, and the fact that she doesn’t age.  She’s beautiful from the very beginning, but she stops aging after she takes some witch’s elixir to make her infertile.  Perhaps I’m too sensitive, but I found the aspects that apparently made her so beautiful and desired were  her not aging and never going through the changes that occur to a woman’s body with aging and childbirth.  Granted, Sarah struggled with not being able to age, but… it just became a little much.

My annoyance is probably partially my own fault and due to my ignorance about the Biblical tale of Sarah.  And, thanks to my ignorance, I can’t report on how true to the Bible this novel is.  I can tell you that it’s a huge bestseller and written well.  Regardless of how annoying I found the book at time, I still (overall) found enjoyment in reading it.  However, I would recommend reading The Red Tent with much more enthusiasm to anyone searching for a historical fiction about Old Testament women.

At this point, I’ll probably venture to read the remaining books in the trilogy, but I’ll probably put them off for a few months.

Synopsis from book:

Sarah’s story begins in the cradle of civilization: the Sumerian city-state of Ur, a land of desert heat, towering gardens, and immense wealth. The daughter of a powerful lord, Sarah balks at the marriage her father has planned for her. On her wedding day, she impulsively flees to the vast, empty marshes outside the city walls, where she meets a young man named Abram, son of a tribe of outsiders. Drawn to this exotic stranger, Sarah spends one night with him and reluctantly returns to her father’s house. But on her return, she secretly drinks a poisonous potion that will make her barren and thus unfit for marriage.

Many years later, Abram returns to Ur and discovers that the lost, rebellious girl from the marsh has been transformed into a splendid woman—the high priestess of the goddess Ishtar. But Sarah gives up her exalted life to join Abram’s tribe and follow the one true God, an invisible deity who speaks only to Abram. It is then that her journey truly begins.

From the great ziggurat of Ishtar to the fertile valleys of Canaan to the bedchamber of the mighty Pharaoh himself, Sarah’s story reveals an ancient world full of beauty, intrigue, and miracles.

 

You can visit Marek Halter’s Amazon.com Author Page for more information.