Description: Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt’s good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment which awakens in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to be become the bride of Sebak, a kind but quick-tempered Captain of Pharaoh Tut’s army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives—women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.
When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt’s gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.
As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan—for them all?
My Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book! Mesu is one of my favorite authors and this may be my favorite of her's yet. The story gripped me, making me equal parts furious and anxious to read the next page.
Anippe lives a dangerous life, walking the thin line between favor and death. With her actions, she chances the anger of her gods, her father, brother, and husband in order to save her life and chances the lives of many others to save her son. While I would normally hate a character so deceptive, her childhood trauma and young marriage allowed me to sympathize with her choices in life. That, and the knowledge that El Shaddai had a greater purpose for her choices.
The story takes place over more than seventeen years, leaving Anippe with much heartache and regret. In the end, she learns that no matter how she tries, she can not control everything and must give her prays to a God who really cares.
I'm excited to read the next book about Miriam, and look forward to its release date.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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