A historical fiction about the early days of Abraham from Sarah’s (Sarai’s) point-of-view.
I think that this novel wasted an opportunity for a great story. Like a majority of women in the Bible, Sarai’s life was largely untold. So, Marek Halter had a blank slate to work with.
And what he wrote for Sarai was a life of waiting. Waiting for Abram to talk to his god. Waiting for Abram to come back from war. Waiting to become pregnant. Waiting and wandering, looking for a home.
If I had written this story, Sarai would have been so busy doing something spectacular that she would have hardly even noticed Abram’s absence or presence. Maybe she invented a new form of weaving. Maybe she started her own business selling those herbed loaves that she was so proud of. Or, to introduce a fantasy twist, maybe she was secretly a vampire hunter, like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
My point is: for a story about a woman, it was mostly about the men in her life. Which makes it not very different than the source material. And, in my mind, a disappointment.
Thanks for reading!
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