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MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A young woman survives the unthinkable in this stunning and emotionally satisfying tale of family, love, and resilience, set against the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Esther dreams of so much more than the marriage her parents have arranged to a prosperous silversmith. Always curious and eager to explore, she must accept the burden of being the dutiful daughter. Yet she is torn between her family responsibilities and her own desires.
Meanwhile, the growing turmoil threatens to tear apart not only her beloved city, Jerusalem, but also her own family. As the streets turn into a bloody battleground between rebels and Romans, Esther’s journey becomes one of survival. She remains fiercely devoted to her family, and braves famine, siege, and slavery to protect those she loves.
This emotional and impassioned saga, based on real characters and meticulous research, seamlessly blends the fascinating story of the Jewish people with a timeless protagonist determined to take charge of her own life against all odds.
MY REVIEW
When I was deciding to read this, I wasn’t 100% sure how to feel when I read that this was a “two-thousand year old love story” seeing that I’m not a fan romance novels, but I decided to check some reviews and I realized that this is not what that is, so I decided to jump in. I mean, a two-thousand year old love story that’s based on real world events and real people that came from a epitaph found in Italy. What was surprising is that I was worried about romance and discovered there was actually no romance at all.
With this being a “love story”, I went into this expecting that I was going to get a story that would be along the lines of Romeo and Juliet in a forbidden lovers type of way, since it’s about a Jew and a Roman, but instead this was nothing like that. Rebel Daughter is a much different story, it’s a dark, absolutely heartbreaking and emotional story of a young woman trying to make her way through life in a tough time. Esther is such a likable character and I loved her development throughout the story as she rebels against some Jewish cultural norms to be a more independently thinking and strong willed woman while navigating a world that does not see a woman’s role in that way.
“Sometimes you have to go backward before you can go forward. Revenge is a temptress because it’s sweeter than honey.”
What makes Rebel Daughter so intriguing is that Kaufmann did her research, and did it well. As she explains in the author and historical notes, this was a project that took over 10 years of research to make sure that everything about the setting, culture, the people, the games, etc, were as authentic as possible. Because of that attention to detail, Kaufmann was able to make this story feel more than a historical fiction novel based on real events with a filled in backstory, this felt more like a retelling of a real story and in all likelihood, as close to the real story as it might actually be.
The narration by Ellen Archer was also a top tier performance and easily made this an even better experience. The one part that shocked me the most, and it’s happened once before with Kim Bretton who narrates Rob J. Hayes Mortal Techniques series, is that Kaufmann wrote in a song and instead of it being just spoken, Archer sang it. I loved that Archer, like Bretton, took it to that next level to help the experience even more.
Wolfmantula.com 