By the Waters of Babylon
A historical novel set in the time of the Bible
When twelve-year-old Ya’el is trapped by a Babylonian soldier, her ability to write saves her from a bloody death. Days later her ruined city of Jerusalem is far behind as a company of guards marches her with other exiles to distant Babylon. She’s to be a slave in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar, on display there as an oddity of the Empire – a girl scribe. During the long brutal trek, her writing skills and determination to learn the sacred scrolls set her apart from the other exiles. She persuades a fellow prisoner, a priest, to teach her. Strange dreams disturb her sleep. Loneliness and the disdain of the other captives drive her to befriend the soldier who captured her. Then the hostility boils over, making her the target of anger from her own people and murderous hatred from other guards. The king’s palace looms closer with every step.
As Ya’el seeks desperately to avoid her impending fate, she’s forced to confront her own complicity in the vitriol directed at her. And the dreams are getting stranger.
“Believable and compelling. Farrar’s heroine Ya’el is captivating, fascinating, idealistic…I found myself thinking about the story even after stopping each evening. It brings to life the carnage and despair wrought by Nebuchadnezzar and the Neo-Babylonians on Jerusalem and its inhabitants in the aftermath of Zedekiah’s rebellion. Traveling with them on the forced march into exile in Babylon, I didn’t want the story to end.”
Eric H. Cline, Ph.D.
Professor of Classics and Anthropology
Director, GWU Capitol Archaeological Institute
The George Washington University
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A Story of the Time of King David
Stephen joins an archaeological dig in Israel to escape a personal tragedy, leaving behind his daughter and two granddaughters.
Late one night he trudges up to the looming mound for respite from the heat. As the moon’s cold light spills down onto the tumbled stones, the haunted shadows loosen his grip on the present, thrusting him into the heart of the disaster that left the ancient city in ruins.
Will his vision of that long-ago catastrophe give him the courage to return home and confront his own tragedy?
