Reviewed by phyllish on

5 of 5 stars

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Elantia sought revenge. After watching the destruction of her village and the murder of her family, and being sold as a slave, she was probably justified in thinking that way. At least by the standards of the world. Being as beautiful as she is, the one thing that protects her from the evil desires of her master is the thought that she needs to remain pure to be able to use her “gift”.

I love the way that author Carole Towriss writes such well-researched Biblical fiction and takes a few chapters and fills in details, making the events come alive. And she weaves so much scripture into the story! Being as this story takes place in Philippi when Paulos is there, he has more than a minor role here, and so much of what he speaks is directly from the letters he wrote.

The events in the story play out differently than what I have pictured, especially regarding the timeline – reading this story had me wanting to open my Bible to re-read the events in Acts 16 to see – could this have taken place over a longer period of time? (And yes, I did do this!) I also appreciated the way so many of the people Paul mentions in his letter show up here.

Though this is the story of a captive, a slave, it is also the story of freedom in Christ. And a story of forgiveness. Not just God’s forgiveness toward us but also our need to forgive others.

While there is some violence in it, it is necessary and not overdone. And not everything gets wrapped up in a nice, neat happy ending. Hmm, kind of like our life here on earth. But to quote Goldilocks, it was “just right”.


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I was given a copy of this book for free. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.

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  • 11 December, 2018: Reviewed