Review: The Desert Princess by Jill Eileen Smith

The Desert Princess (The Loves of King Solomon #1)
By: Jill Eileen Smith
Publisher: Revell
ASIN: B00GHXRCSW

Review:

I've been long overdue for the opportunity to read a Jill Eileen Smith novel. Having devoured all three installments of her first series, The Wives of King David, her subsequent stories have -- sadly -- found themselves lost in my toppling to-be-read pile. Happily, The Desert Princess provides the perfect solution for those like myself craving a quick trip into her richly-imagined biblical world. This brief novella is the first of a proposed series exploring the Solomon through the eyes of the women in his life. And with 700 wives and princesses and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), Smith has a veritable wealth of potential "loves" from which to choose her characters...but with a catch. Compared to the sheer number of women in his life, the verses devoted to fleshing out any of their characters and experiences are incredibly sparse. But Smith has more than earned the right to a little artistic license in my view, for her stories exploring the lives of Michal, Abigail, and Bathsheba reflect her knowledge, understanding, and passion for scripture and the history reflected within its pages.

The Desert Princess tells the story of Naamah the Ammonite, mentioned once in scripture as the mother of Solomon's son, Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21). Smith sets her story during one of the most turbulent periods of David's reign -- when he fled Jerusalem from his son Absalom. She posits that Shobi the Ammonite who provisioned David and his company, mentioned in 2 Samuel 17:27, could have been Naamah's father -- and thus Solomon's introduction to the woman who would bear his heir. And thus the stage is set for a lovesick princess to fall in love with David's favorite son. There's more supposition than fact here, which I am typically intolerant of in biblical fiction. However, Smith has little to go on when characterizing Naamah, so allowances must be made.

My biggest issue with this novella is that it is simply too short to do justice to Smith's talent for bringing biblical stories to life within the pages of her writing. That aside, this is a promising start to the Solomon series, as she uses the heavily fictionalized Naamah to frame Solomon at a critical point in his youth -- favored but not yet proclaimed David's heir. Naamah's interactions with Solomon hint at the wisdom to come by revealing his facility for wordplay as well as his penchant for pleasure. I look forward to discovering how Smith both frames an older Solomon in further novellas and gives a plausible, sympathetic voice to the now silent women who once inhabited his world.

About the book:

Solomon captured her heart. But can she hold on to his?

King David is running for his life with his young son Solomon in tow when Naamah first encounters the prince. Her father is loyal to the king, and that loyalty will be sealed years later--through the marriage of Solomon and Naamah. 

For her part, Naamah is happy to wed the handsome prince and enter into palace life. But all is not well in Jerusalem. Solomon must navigate constant threats to his life--even from within the palace walls. And when peace is restored, can Naamah ever be truly happy as she watches the love of her life taking more wives?

Join bestselling author Jill Eileen Smith as she weaves a tale of young love, heartbreaking betrayal, and the power of forgiveness, all against the vivid backdrop of one of the most tumultuous times in Israel's history.

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Review: Bathsheba by Jill Eileen Smith

Bathsheba (The Wives of King David #3)
By: Jill Eileen Smith
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3322-3

About the book:

Can love triumph over treachery?

Bathsheba is a woman who longs for love. With her husband away fighting the king's wars, she battles encroaching loneliness - which makes it all too easy to succumb to the advances of King David. Will one night of unbridled passion destroy everything she holds dear? Can she find forgiveness at the feet of the Almighty? Or has her sin separated her from God forever?

With a historian's sharp eye for detail and a novelist's creative spirit, Jill Eileen Smith brings to life the passionate and emotional story of David's most famous - and infamous - wife. You will never read the story of David and Bathsheba the same way again.

Review:

For the concluding volume in The Wives of King David trilogy, author Jill Eileen Smith breathes life into the story of David’s most infamous wife, Bathsheba – a woman who came into his life through adultery, who in spite of her scandal-ridden past would come to have the honor of being named in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Like the previous two wives Smith brought to life (Michal and Abigail), Bathsheba’s past is again strikingly different from theirs, and her life intersects with a David who is the established, beloved – and prideful? – King of Israel. The Bible gives perhaps even less insight into Bathsheba’s character and personality than it does Michal and Abigail, leaving Smith a veritable blank canvas with which to recreate the events leading up to, and the consequences of, one of history’s most famous affairs. Using the Biblical text as her framework, Smith weaves an engrossing tale of the events and struggles that would lead David, a man after God’s own heart, mighty and favored beyond imagination, to claim another man’s wife as his own. And she brings to colorful life Bathsheba, the woman whose beauty would threaten the security of a kingdom, and who’s one night of forbidden passion with a king would bring about devastating repercussions, redeemable only by the grace of a merciful God.

For the first third of this novel, Smith introduces readers to Bathsheba’s life prior to her fateful night with David. A daughter of privilege, born into a family with close ties to David’s royal house, she was given in marriage to Uriah, a Hittite who adopted the faith of Israel and gained honor and position as one of the Thirty, David’s select group of warriors. At times I really struggled to connect with Bathsheba and Uriah – she never seemed satisfied, always questioning and doubting her husband’s love since wars kept him away from her months at a time, while he was so pragmatic and dedicated to the letter of the law that he had no sympathy for or inkling of how to handle Bathsheba’s emotional volatility. However Uriah, perhaps one of the most tragically wronged individuals in the Bible, is fully realized as an honorable, loyal innocent caught up in events not of his own making or desire. Though it is never specified in the Bible that Bathsheba and David met prior to the night he sent for her in 2 Samuel 11, Smith conjectures – reasonably, I think – that due to Bathsheba’s family heritage and her husband’s position in David’s royal guard, that it’s possible they met earlier. Such a meeting plants the seeds of curiosity and desire in each of them, sparks that flame into a full-blown obsession when David witnesses Bathsheba’s ritual purification bath from the palace rooftop. Smith does a superb job of creating emotional tension between David and Bathsheba, and the fallout from their passion and attempts to hide their sin is positively wrenching to witness.

One of the aspects I’ve really appreciated about this trilogy is Smith’s ability to bring to life David’s most famous wives, and make them living and breathing, relatable, fallible humans. The scripture seems to imply that Bathsheba was a willing partner in adultery by the omission of any words to the contrary – and while Smith’s retelling doesn’t shy away from Bathsheba’s possible complicity, she also explores her fall with a perspective I’d not imagined before. The social and cultural structure that Bathsheba operated within – that made her wholly subject to the dictates of the men in her life – make it easier to understand how her society would have conditioned her to obey men, whether father, husband, or king, without question. The consequences of David’s callous selfishness in claiming Bathsheba when he had no right is heartbreaking to watch unfold. David and Bathsheba’s shared guilt provides Smith with the springboard for crafting a powerful illustration of God’s redemptive grace in the face of unfathomable sorrow. Bathsheba is a story of second chances, and God’s ability to bring beauty from the ashes of seemingly irredeemable mistakes, when a broken soul seeks and accepts forgiveness. 

• Read my review of Michal.
• Read my review of Abigail.

Review: Abigail by Jill Eileen Smith

Abigail (The Wives of King David #2)
By: Jill Eileen Smith
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3321-6

About the book:

Her days marked by turmoil and faded dreams, Abigail has resigned herself to a life with a man she does not love. But when circumstances offer her a second chance at happiness with the handsome David, she takes a leap of faith to join his wandering tribe. Still, her struggles are far from over. How can she share his love with the other women he insists on marrying?

Abigail follows the bestselling Michal and continues Jill Eileen Smith’s rich story of David’s wives.

Review:

For her second novel in The Wives of King David series, Jill Eileen Smith explores the life of Abigail, David’s third wife, who came to him while he was still living in the wilderness, running from Saul’s never-ending attempts to end his life. As a widow and a non-royal, Abigail has a strikingly different background and perspective than Michal, David’s first wife, whose story was told in Smith’s first book. While Michal was a privileged princess, Abigail hails from a poor, but loving family, where she is given in marriage to the loutish Nabal in order to settle a long-standing family debt. For the innocent, God-fearing Abigail, her first marriage is a nightmare from day one, and the emotional and physical abuse she suffers takes an increasing toll on Abigail’s well-being and confidence. But she never loses her faith, and when the opportunity comes save the household when Nabal foolishly incites the wrath of David and his followers, she seizes the chance to bring peace to the situation. Little does she realize that her extraordinary act of bravery will set her on a path to capture the heart of God’s anointed, placing her in a position to impact the fate of her people through marriage to the future king.

Although many of the events in Abigail were also covered in Michal, the different female perspective, coupled with a greater focus on David’s years in the wilderness, work together to provide a richer, more fully realized picture of David’s life and character. Smith paints a portrait of David that breathes life into the extraordinary man of God seen in the scriptures, while also bringing to vivid life his flaws and human frailties, making him painfully human and relatable. When David begins to justify taking additional wives in order to expand his household, the result of his all too common human ability to rationalize his desires will have ramifications far into the future. Abigail, so different from her predecessor Michal, is fully fleshed out into the intriguing character that’s only hinted at in 1 Samuel 25. Abigail is the polar opposite of her foolish first husband – beautiful and wise, the abuse heaped on her during that marriage could have broken her character. Though she struggles with fear, jealousy, and trust, Abigail never allows her experiences to define her; rather, her faith takes those experiences and refines her into a woman whose bravery, faith, and compassion make her a thought-provoking, unforgettable inspiration.

I didn’t think Michal could be topped, but with Abigail Smith rises to the challenge and proves to be an even more gifted wordsmith and storyteller. Her passion for scripture and biblical history shines through each page, bringing Abigail’s world to life in brilliant detail. Like Michal, Abigail spans many years, and the time transitions scripture quotations are handled better, resulting in a smoothly flowing, rapidly paced read. I really feel like Smith captures the mindset and customs of the time, because she manages to bring Abigail and David’s love story to life with credibility – a feat that by today’s standards seems nearly impossible given that Abigail competed with David’s other wives for his time and affection. The social dynamic Abigail operated within seems so foreign, but Smith succeeds in presenting the reality of a woman’s life during this time period in a compassionate and understandable way. Once the historical trappings are stripped away, what endures is Abigail’s character and her unshakeable faith in an unchanging God who helps her overcome her fears and grants her peace in the midst of life’s storms – a lesson in faith that still resonates today.

Review: Michal by Jill Eileen Smith

Michal (The Wives of King David #1)
By: Jill Eileen Smith
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3320-9

About the book:

The daughter of King Saul, Michal lives a life of privilege – but one that is haunted by her father’s unpredictable moods and competition from her beautiful older sister. As a girl, Michael quickly falls for the handsome young harpist, David. But soon after their romance begins, David must flee for his life, leaving Michal at her father’s mercy in the prison that is King Saul’s palace.

Will Michal ever be reunited with David? Or is she doomed to remain separated from him forever?

Against the backdrop of opulent palace life, raging war, and daring desert escapes, Jill Eileen Smith takes you on an emotional journey as Michal deals with love, loss, and personal transformation as the first wife of King David.

Review:

With her debut novel, Jill Eileen Smith explores the tumultuous life of Michal, daughter of King Saul and the first wife of David. Honestly, Michal is a character that I never really gave much thought to before. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of thinking of the people that populate the pages of scripture as flat characters, rather than as the wonderful, flawed, fully-rounded human beings they actually were, filled with fears and hopes. Though Michal’s life has been reduced to mention in only a handful of verses, she witnessed an incredible amount of history and heartbreak. The way Smith brings Michal to life, from her early years as a young princess in Saul’s court, in love with David the simple shepherd, to the unfathomable tragedy she witnessed as Saul’s family fell from power, absolutely captivated me from the first page.

Smith’s narrative closely follows the Biblical account of David’s life and rise to power found in 1 and 2 Samuel. In many cases, she incorporates some of the actual dialogue from the scriptures which adds further authenticity to the novel. Her research and passion for the time period clearly shines through in her vivid descriptions of palace life. It was easy to imagine myself in that world, walking alongside Michal and David, drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells of ancient Israel. The book covers decades in Michal’s life, often with jumps of one to six years between chapters. Those transitions can be a little abrupt, but overall they did not detract from my enjoyment of the story or my complete immersion into Michal’s world. And although the focus of this novel is Michal, David also emerges as a fascinating and complex man. Smith gives readers a window into the personal, family side of David, while not neglecting David the king and worshipper so well known in the pages of the Bible. I wanted to smack him when he started accumulating multiple wives. Through Michal’s role as first – and childless – wife, Smith gives a very human face to the toll such a lifestyle must have taken on women during that time.

I really appreciate how Smith depicted the many cultural and social standards a woman in Michal’s position dealt with seem so foreign today. Seeing Saul’s descent into madness from the perspective of a daughter was absolutely terrifying, especially since as a woman she was wholly subject to his dictates as her father and king. I cannot imagine the courage it took to help David escape Saul’s wrath in the early days of their marriage, and then to endure being given to another man when Saul declared her marriage to David void. It’s easy to understand Michal’s struggles with anger and bitterness, and how she clung to her dream of being declared David’s queen as her salvation. In a culture that placed a premium on a woman’s ability to provide her husband with children, Michal’s struggles with anger, fear, and bitterness over the uncertainty of her position at court are heartbreaking. Her journey towards redemption, and a personal relationship with David’s beloved God after enduring so much heartbreak and horror was beautiful to witness. Michal does not get your typical happy ending, but it’s the right ending for her story, offering the hope and restoration that only a relationship with God can supply to a life torn asunder by circumstance. Very well done – I look forward to the sequels!