Canaan Trilogy
3 primary works Complete
Book 1
Women play a pivotal role in the Bible, yet their fates are generally summarized in just a few lines. Now Marek Halter tells the stories of three of its most important heroines: Sarah, the Sumerian aristocrat who struggled to bear a child; Zipporah, the African immigrant who begged Moses to create laws to protect the weak; and Lilah, the prophet Ezrah's sister, who fought against the mounting religious extremism of the era. Above all, it is the courage and spirit of these women that make them and their narratives uplifting and extraordinarily compelling. People may know that Abraham, the Patriarch of the Old Testament, was the first man to spread God's word. But how many know of his wife, Sarah? How she was born into a wealthy and powerful family in the Sumerian city of Ur? Or how, at the age of twelve, escaping her own wedding ceremony, she ran to the banks of the Euphrates river and into the arms of a young stranger camped on the outskirts of the city. His name was Abraham and, although he was a member of a poor nomadic tribe, their night together was enough to convince Sarah that their future lay together.
And so Sarah abandoned everything - wealth, family and status - to follow Abraham and his alien God; a God of whom no one had ever heard; a God who was invisible and who appeared to communicate solely through her husband; a God who, one day, would command Abraham to kill their beloved son in his name, and to whom Sarah would beg for mercy...Set against the epic backdrop of the Sumerain cities of Ur and Babylon four thousand years ago, and in the arid wastelands of the Arabian desert, Marek Halter brings an ancient world vividly to life through the eyes of a beautiful and passionate woman.
And so Sarah abandoned everything - wealth, family and status - to follow Abraham and his alien God; a God of whom no one had ever heard; a God who was invisible and who appeared to communicate solely through her husband; a God who, one day, would command Abraham to kill their beloved son in his name, and to whom Sarah would beg for mercy...Set against the epic backdrop of the Sumerain cities of Ur and Babylon four thousand years ago, and in the arid wastelands of the Arabian desert, Marek Halter brings an ancient world vividly to life through the eyes of a beautiful and passionate woman.
Book 2
From the internationally bestselling author of Sarah comes the riveting story of the remarkable woman who walked beside Moses.
Although she is a Cushite by birth—one of the people of the lands to the south—Zipporah grew up as the beloved daughter of Jethro, high priest and sage of the Midianites. But the color of Zipporah’s skin sets her apart, making her an outsider to the men of her adopted tribe, who do not want her as a wife. Then one day while drawing water from a well, she meets a handsome young stranger. Like her, he is an outsider. A Hebrew raised in the house of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Moses is a fugitive, forced to flee his homeland. Zipporah realizes that this man will be the husband and partner she never thought she would have.
Moses wants nothing more than a peaceful life with the Midianites, but Zipporah won’t let Moses forget his past—or turn away from his true destiny.
She refuses to marry him until he returns to Egypt to free his people. When God reveals himself to Moses in a burning bush, his words echo Zipporah’s, and Moses returns to Egypt with his passionate and generous wife by his side.
A woman ahead of her time, Zipporah leaps from the pages of this remarkable novel. Bold, independent, and a true survivor, she is a captivating heroine, and her world of deserts, temples, and ancient wonders is a fitting backdrop to an epic tale.
Although she is a Cushite by birth—one of the people of the lands to the south—Zipporah grew up as the beloved daughter of Jethro, high priest and sage of the Midianites. But the color of Zipporah’s skin sets her apart, making her an outsider to the men of her adopted tribe, who do not want her as a wife. Then one day while drawing water from a well, she meets a handsome young stranger. Like her, he is an outsider. A Hebrew raised in the house of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Moses is a fugitive, forced to flee his homeland. Zipporah realizes that this man will be the husband and partner she never thought she would have.
Moses wants nothing more than a peaceful life with the Midianites, but Zipporah won’t let Moses forget his past—or turn away from his true destiny.
She refuses to marry him until he returns to Egypt to free his people. When God reveals himself to Moses in a burning bush, his words echo Zipporah’s, and Moses returns to Egypt with his passionate and generous wife by his side.
A woman ahead of her time, Zipporah leaps from the pages of this remarkable novel. Bold, independent, and a true survivor, she is a captivating heroine, and her world of deserts, temples, and ancient wonders is a fitting backdrop to an epic tale.
Book 3
I can't be with those who throw stones at women and children. It's beyond me. Beyond my love for Ezra. Beyond my respect for God. In 397 BC, in Susa, the opulent capital of the Persian empire, where the Jews are living in exile, young Lilah is destined for a happy life: she is due to marry Antinoes, a great Persian warrior well known at the king's court. But her beloved brother Ezra, with whom she has been close since childhood, is opposed to this marriage with a foreigner. If Lilah insists, she will have to renounce Ezra, and that is something she cannot do, for she senses that he has been chosen by God to lead the exiled Jews to Jerusalem and, after centuries of displacement, revive the laws of Moses: laws which promote justice and give human life a meaning. Abandoning the promise of a golden future, Lilah urges her brother to leave for Jerusalem and gives him new hope that a return to the Promised Land is possible. But Ezra, blinded by faith, orders the rejection of all foreign wives. At the risk of losing the one person she still has left in her life, Lilah opposes her brother's fanaticism, thereby ensuring the survival of the women and children condemned to leave the city.
But her opposition comes at great personal cost ..."Lilah" concludes Marek Halter's trilogy about Biblical heroines. Sarah, Abraham's barren wife, brought her personal destiny to bear in the creation of a new religion. Zipporah, Moses wife, fought against racism and exclusion. By speaking out against religious extremism, of which women are the first victims, Lilah proves herself a champion of freedom.
But her opposition comes at great personal cost ..."Lilah" concludes Marek Halter's trilogy about Biblical heroines. Sarah, Abraham's barren wife, brought her personal destiny to bear in the creation of a new religion. Zipporah, Moses wife, fought against racism and exclusion. By speaking out against religious extremism, of which women are the first victims, Lilah proves herself a champion of freedom.