A vividly realised and beautifully crafted novel woven around the fabled meeting between Sheba and Solomon. Makeda, daughter of an obscure African chieftain, is unexpectedly chosen as Queen of all Sheba. Revolted by her nation's widespread corruption and deep-rooted social injustice, she resolves to visit and learn from the legendary Solomon, King of Israel. She is astonished by Israel's prosperity, by the wisdom and integrity with which Solomon rules, and by the Hebrews' all-encompassing convictions. Solomon too is entranced, by the beautiful and intelligent African queen. But when she returns to her homeland, determined to put into practice what she has learned, the once-splendid King of Israel starts to lose his way.
Autorentext
JILL FRANCIS HUDSON has a first class honours degree in Classics and Theology from Cambridge University and has travelled widely in the Middle East. She is author of a number of widely-praised novels including The Last Queen of Sheba.
Zusammenfassung
'An enthralling journey into an ancient world.' - Edoardo Albert, author of Edwin: High King of BritainA vividly-realized and beautifully crafted novel focused around the fabled meeting between Sheba and SolomonAgainst all odds Makeda, daughter of an obscure African chieftain, is chosen as Queen of all Sheba. Recognizing her own inexperience, yet desperately wanting to address Sheba's appalling social injustice, she is persuaded by her cousin Tamrin, wealthy merchant and narrator of the novel, to visit Solomon, King of Israel, to find out about how he governs his kingdom. She is hugely impressed by Israel's prosperity, by the wisdom and integrity with which Solomon rules, by the Hebrew religion, which she decides to adopt as her own, and by the justice for all that she determines to copy.However Solomon, who is trapped in a childless and loveless dynastic marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, allows himself to fall in love with the beautiful and intelligent African. He eventually tricks her into sleeping with him, and on the return journey to Sheba she discovers that she is pregnant.The son to whom she gives birth grows up in the court of Sheba, and eventually travels to Israel with Tamrin, to meet his father. But Solomon is a broken man, having put his doomed love for Makeda and need for an heir before his relationship with God. He has taken hundreds of wives and concubines in a fruitless attempt to recapture the love which he and Makeda shared. And Israel is no longer the nation of his youth . . .When the leader of the nation of God is apostate, where will the blessing fall?