Love`s Sacred Song – A Novel: A Novel

by Mesu Andrews

Standing in the massive shadow of his famous father, young king Solomon wavers between fear and bravado, wisdom and folly. In the uncertain world of alliances and treachery, Solomon longs for peace and a love that is true and pure--a love that can be his cornerstone.

A shepherdess in the northern city of Shunem, Arielah remembers the first time she laid eyes on Solomon in Jerusalem when she was just seven years old. Since then she has known that it was her destiny to become his bride. When her father, a leader of their tribe, secures a promise from King Solomon to marry Arielah as a treaty bride to help unite the kingdom, it seems her dreams may come true.

But how can this simple shepherdess live as part of Solomon's harem? Can Solomon set aside his distractions to give himself completely to just one woman? Or will he let duty, deception, and the daily routine divide his heart?

Mesu Andrews expertly weaves the words of the Song of Solomon into this touching story of the power of love. Readers will be transported from the glowing fields of Shunem to the gleaming city of Jerusalem as they experience this rich and textured novel from a master storyteller.

• ISBN10: 0800734084
• ISBN13: 9780800734084
• Publish Date: 1 March 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Imprint: Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[cherryblossommj]

At the beginning of the week you may have seen the flyer posted about this book. Could the book cover get any more yummy? Now if you had a Bible cover like this, wouldn’t you want to jump in and read about these characters/people and try to understand their emotions and the events surrounding them? I would! Sometimes reading your Bible is hard and you need a bit of a jump start on your imagination. That is what you find in these Biblical Fiction books from Mesu. She uses scripture as a baseline and then adds possible fiction to the storytelling to bring the names to life and gives them form and face in imagination. It causes you to want to go back and delve more. Read more about abba David from the sheep field to the harp in the courtyard to the pain in treachery and then the death bed. To Solomon’s encounter with God and to the events in his kingdom.

If you know me and my opinion and thirst for Christian Historical Fiction you might have heard me mention that my first introduction was through Liz Curtis Higgs and her Scottish Lowlands Series. While her historical novels might be staged in Scotland and hosted in a different century the elements and foundation of a scripture story is there. Now, would you believe me if I told you my heart and curiosity was even moreenraptured by the storytelling’s of the book Song of Songs telling King Solomon, son of the shepherd and poet King David in a novelization from Mesu Andrews?

This book had me by the heart and held on. Our Beloved Arielah captured my sympathy and interest and made me turn the page in the same way that any historical romance from others of my favorite author’s like Mary Connealy, Julie Lessman, or Susan Page Davis and MaryLu Tyndall might force me to do. Yet she did something even more. While it is not entirely surprising for me to explore some related scripture after reading a particular Christian Historical Fiction novel, the storyline from Mesu caused me to venture in and read Song of Songs in its entirety from my Bible without interruption and with a new set of lenses for my eyes. They are not rose colored glasses, but they sure are vivid… and enchanting.

As a reader, one is pulled into the life and times of a Biblical monarch that finds himself a real man enduring such troubles and tasks tobe realistic and interesting. There is romance of course, but it doesn’t stop there as the suspense and drama propels each page forward. In the end it is a fascinating take that just makes me want to crack the spine on my Bible more often.

Well done Mesu! Need I even say it? Highly recommended!



*Thanks to Mesu and Revell for providing a copy for review.*

“Available March 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker
Publishing Group.”

Don’t forget you may want more and to go back and read Dinah’s story in Love Amid the Ashes.