Abigail by Jill Eileen Smith - REVIEWED

Abigail, wife of King David, has been brought vividly to life through the writing of Jill Eileen Smith! What a fascinating look into the past and the ramifications of what it must be like to be one of many wives! What tender scenes were captured between David and the wife who shared his faith!

I read the first book in this series, Michael, last year, and I was truly swept away! Abigail’s journey is just as breathtaking, and the story is built carefully over time so that the reader becomes fully involved in both the life of David and Abigail. Once again, Jill Eileen Smith has followed what is revealed in Scripture about David and his life, and she has made Abigail so real that your heart aches from the experience! I especially appreciated the depiction of Abigail’s marriage to Nabal while simultaneously developing David’s nomadic lifestyle as he fled from Saul. It was as if both David and Abigail’s trials were strengthening them for the challenges ahead. This development of their lives apart only deepened the love and relationship that eventually grew between them.

I was also intrigued by the fearful nature of David’s wife Ahinoam that was set in such stark contrast to Abigail’s faith. This dynamic made me appreciate and believe the emotional struggle that warred within Abigail as David continued to add wives to his household. Truly, emotions sparked off the page every time David and Abigail were near one another, and your heart ached for Abigail when they were apart.

Again, I felt transported to another time and place as I read Abigail, and I look forward to meeting the next of David’s wives then Jill Eileen Smith brings her to life with her very skillful pen! What a joy to read such great historical fiction!

Available February 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jill Eileen Smith has more than twenty years of writing experience, and her writing has garnered acclaim in several contests. Her research into the lives of David's wives has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Jill is the author of the bestselling Michal and lives with her family in southeast Michigan.