Zipporah, Wife of Moses
Canann Trilogy
by Marek Halter
Crown Hardback
ISBN 9781400052790
288 pages
Release Date: July 5, 2005
Available for purchase
Why did you choose this book? I read, Sarah, the first book of this trilogy and really enjoyed it.
When did you read this book? October 2006
Who should read this book? fans of historial fiction, biblical era fiction
"In the time of the Pharaoh, a tiny infant is rescued from the banks of the Red Sea. She is named Zipporah, "the little bird." Although she is a Cushite by birth - one of the black people of the lands to the south - she is taken in by Jethro, high priest and sage of the Midianites. Jethro adores his adopted daughter, and she is an honored member of his family. But the blackness of Zipporah's skin sets her apart and will decide her future: she will be an outsider, and the men of her adopted tribe will not want her as a wife." "But when she becomes a young woman, Zipporah's destiny changes forever. While drawing water at a well one day, she meets a handsome young man, a stranger. Like her, he is an outsider, a foreigner. His name is Moses. A Hebrew raised in the house of the Pharaoh, Moses is a fugitive, forced to flee his homeland of Egypt after murdering one of the Pharaoh's cruel overseers. Zipporah knows almost immediately that this man will be the husband and partner she never thought she would have." At first Moses wants nothing more than a peaceful life with the Midianites. He is content in his role as Zipporah's lover and the honarary son of Jethro the sage. But Zipporah refuses to let Moses forget his past or turn away from what she believes to be his true destiny. Although he is the love of her life and the father of her children, Zipporah won't marry Moses until he agrees to return to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and free his people. When God reveals himself to Moses in the burning bush, his words echo Zipporah's, and Moses returns to Egypt with Zipporah by his side. A passionate lover and a generous, thoughful wife, Zipporah becomes the guiding force in Moses's struggle. With the help of her powerful father, she teaches the rebellious young man about the rule of the law and the force of justice. Because of Zipporah - the outsider, the black-skinned woman - Moses becomes a defender of the oppressed and a liberator of the enslaved.
I enjoyed this book, though at times it 'dragged' a little. Obviously it is only very loosely based on the Bible. It is an imaginative work. Because I'd read other reviews before reading this book I was expecting to be disappointed. It is true that I did not find this book to be as good as the first book, Sarah, but it was still an enjoyable book for me. Though there was some 'racism' in the book, I didn't find this to be as large a factor in the book as I'd been led to believe by other reviewers. Zipporah was treated as an outsider by her inlaws, with much jealously displayed, and this was attributed to race, but the bottom line was that her sister-in-law and her sisters (by adoption) didn't like her; they were jealous of her (she was daddy’s favorite!) and racism was as good an excuse as any to mistreat her. They would have found another reason if this one weren't so convenient. The one thing I didn't like in this book was how Moses' siblings came off as so petty.
Having said that, I DID enjoy the book right up until the end. It ended much too abrubtly. Not wanting to give away the end,I will only say I found it disappointing. In general, if I don't like the way a book ends, I won't like the book, but I still found this one to be worth reading.
My Rating: ★★★ 3 Stars
Before the Blog is a meme hosted by YA Litwit. The idea here is that we have all been reading much longer than we have been blogging and have many books in our reading past that are worthy of blogging about. This is a way to 'rediscover' these gems by answering a few basic questions. For details check out Karis' YA Litwit blog.
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