An epic story of love and forgiveness, suffering and restoration
When her beloved grandfather Isaac dies, Dinah must follow his final command: travel to Job's household to marry his son. After Job's world comes crashing down, Dinah finds herself drawn to this great man brought low. What will she risk to fight for his survival?
Mesu Andrews weaves an emotional and stirring account of Job and Dinah. Love Amid the Ashes breathes life, romance, and passion into the classic biblical story of suffering and steadfast faith.
Romance:
Violence:
Fear/Horror:
Overall Opinion:
Mesu has written a winner in Love Amid the Ashes
! The opening scene pulls you back in time and gives you a story that some people might have never considered – Jacob’s daughter Dinah living with Job during the time of his inflictions. It was a very interesting viewpoint and one that compellingly drew the reader into the story. Dinah was a very strong character. Many people in her day saw her as tainted or a harlot because she laid with Shechem before they were married. Because of this she was shunned, her father didn’t acknowledge her, and no one would marry her. While she did sin, the amount of slander she had to put up with was sad. Often it came from people who had only heard about the events at Shechem—and the stories that were rumored around held many falsehoods. What a weight Dinah had to carry! I loved the way Mesu portrayed this woman. Dinah’s personal story, thrown together with Job’s, was a very neat twist.
Job was amazing. This book opens up a new viewpoint that the bible doesn’t give—Jobs thoughts and feelings. The scene when Job gets the news of his wealth destroyed and his children killed is powerful and heart wrenching. Just reading the account in the book of Job is powerful, but to read Job and his wife’s, Sitis’, reaction...wow. Talk about walking into a nightmare!
While a lot of Love Amid the Ashes
is from the authors imagination, it is still—to some degree—very probable. The conspiracy of Sayyid’s, to destroy Job, was an interesting twist to this book. When one reads the book of Job you wouldn’t think of a conspiracy against him, but Mesu has added intrigue and suspense to this biblical fiction by giving Job an evil nemesis—Sayyid. Some may think this a little “out there”, but I enjoyed the refreshing and interesting plot. Even though I already knew what would happen in the story of Job, the addition of Dinah, Sayyid, and Aban was captivating. For this being her debut novel, I predict wonderful things from future books by Mesu. Her writing style is appealing and refreshing, taking the reader right into the moment. I could almost feel the dust clinging to Dinah’s skin as she journeyed with the caravan and I could picture Job’s tortured, rotting body. When events finally slowed down and the book drew to a close, I was sad to leave Dinah. Love Amid the Ashes
explores a story from a viewpoint that most people have not considered, and that alone sets Mesu’s book apart from others. What a wonderful, powerful, convicting story is told within these pages!
3 comments:
Great review! I loved this book!
Thanks Renee! I really enjoyed it, and am glad to see you did too! Mesu crafted such a wonderful book out of Job's story. :-)
~ Katy
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