From Amazon.com
From
New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card comes the finely crafted novel of
Sarah, about a beautiful and courageous Jewish woman who changed the course of history through her faith, wisdom, and commitment to her husband, Abraham. As a man writing from a woman's perspective, Card nevertheless shows great perspicacity. Sarah's range of emotions is credible, including her fear as she pretends to be Abraham's sister in order to fool the Egyptian pharaoh Neb-Towi-Re, and her pain as she deals with her barrenness. Later, the kindness Sarah showers on Hagar, her personal handmaid, conflicts believably with her agonizing jealousy over her decision to let Abraham father a child with Hagar. Card's research for the book results in detailed descriptions that help make it memorable, from the practice of religion and styles of dress to the accounts of desert and city life. He succeeds in offering a memorable tale for both those who are interested in biblical women as part of their faith and readers who just enjoy a good story.
--Cindy Crosby
From Publishers Weekly
Although Card's popular science fiction and fantasy have always been permeated with religious themes, this version of the life of Sarah, Abraham's wife, is more in keeping with his lesser known Stone Tables, a reconstruction of the life of Moses. In his afterword, Card explains that here he is not an apologist for the Bible, but rather "an apologist for Sarah, a tough, smart, strong, bright woman in an era when women did not show up much in historical records." He takes the tantalizingly rich references to Sarah in the book of Genesis and determines to bring her to life for his readers. This novel is not an epic volume rich in cultural and historical detail about ancient Mesopotamia, Canaan and Egypt. Its focus is more what Card does best: exploring human motives and relationships, and the role of faith in individual lives. The entire novel is told exclusively from the point of view of Sarah and her sister Qira, whom Card has created as Lot's wife. Qira is the blind, selfish materialist who cannot understand the kindness or self-sacrifice of the faithful who surround her and who chafes against her husband's authority. Sarah, by contrast, is a wise and virtuous figure who struggles to have the unflinching faith of Abraham, even though she glimpses God's presence in her life only rarely. The narrative is sometimes uneven, and the sprinkling of references to LDS theology may be awkward for the non-Mormon reader. Overall, however, this playfully speculative novel succeeds in bringing Sarah's oft-overlooked character into vivid relief. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
by Orson Scott Card
by Orson Scott Card
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