Pharaoh's Daughter by Mesu Andrews - REVEIWED

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Pharaoh's Daughter WaterBrook Press (March 17, 2015) by Mesu Andrews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mesu Andrews’ deep understanding of and love for God’s Word brings the biblical world alive for her readers. She and her husband, Roy, enjoyed fourteen years of pastoral ministry before moving to the Pacific Northwest, where Roy now serves as Academic Dean at Multnomah Biblical Seminary. Mesu writes full-time, snuggled in her recliner beside a cozy fire on rainy Northwest days. The Andrews’ enjoy visiting their two married daughters and a growing tribe of grandkids. Mesu loves movies, football, waterfalls, and travel.

Biblical fiction is her favorite genre to read and write. Her first novel, Love Amid the Ashes (Revell, 2011), tells the story of Job and won the 2012 ECPA Book of the Year for a Debut Author.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Fear is the most fertile ground for faith.” “You will be called Anippe, daughter of the Nile. Do you like it?” Without waiting for a reply, she pulls me into her squishy, round tummy for a hug.
I’m trying not to cry. Pharaoh’s daughters don’t cry.
When we make our way down the tiled hall, I try to stop at ummi Kiya’s chamber. I know her spirit has flown yet I long for one more moment. Amenia pushes me past so I keep walking and don’t look back.
Like the waters of the Nile, I will flow.

Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt’s good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment which awakens in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to be become the bride of Sebak, a kind but quick-tempered Captain of Pharaoh Tut’s army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives—women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.

When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt’s gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.

As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan—for them all?

My Thoughts:

“El-Shaddai knows everyone….Regardless of our names.”  (p.242)

In Hebrew culture, name mean much more than a connection to a family of origin. A name was a prophetic pronouncement over their future.  When Pharoh’s Daughter, Annipe, drew Moses from the Nile, she could never imagine what Moses’ future would look like – nor her own!  Mesu Andrews carefully weaves a story from both Biblical and secular history in such a powerful way that you will never read the story of Moses the same way again!  God is so careful to arrange every event, relationship, circumstance and even trials for our good and His glory.

This is a masterful tale that clearly displays God’s redemptive work throughout the entire Biblical narrative.  His Word is true and living in every page!  Mesu Andrews can bring that alive like few that I know, and I believe lives will be touched and changed through reading Pharaoh’s Daughter .  This is a multi-layered story that spans several years, but the relationships are well-developed and historically accurate and will leave a significant impact upon your heart!

I can’t wait to read Miriam story in her next novel!!  I highly recommend this novel to everyone!  It is beautifully written, and you will remember these characters long after you reach the final page!  BRAVO!!!

If you would like to read the first chapter of Pharaoh's Daughter, go HERE.