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Sarah by Marek Halter

After reading this for the second time (the first being in 2008 when I just commenced on a 4-year study of the Bible and Marek Halter's writings were recommended) I think I enjoyed it even more than the first time through.

I do appreciate how nothing in Halter's work contradicts the inspired writing of scripture, but just allows a 'story' to fill in the gaps of what we might imagine was the 'life' of the character in question.

My first time through I was not so familiar with the travels of Sarah and Abraham, but this time I was ready and waiting for the twists and turns in the plot and was anticipating the shifts and climaxes the story would have to present in line with scripture.

I have recently read The Book of Abraham as well, a long read but wonderful in giving insight to the history of Judaism in the Western World from the time of the destruction of the 2nd Temple to 'modern' history. This novel, the fictionalized account of Sarah, is one of three books coursing through early Israelite history and I am excited to move on to Zipporah and then Lilah (not quite sure her role) to further invigorate my imagination about the lives of these women. The trick will be finding the intermediary work to connect King David's time to the era of the 2nd Temple.

When I was deep in the study of the Torah for the first time, I was almost afraid to read something fictional for fear of not being able to discern the line between scripture and fiction, but I would say that Marek Halter writes in a fashion that is safe and rewarding to the reader, more and more so for the one well-versed in scripture.

I highly recommend his works, but be ready for details and density in the larger books!