"Zipporah"

Author: Marek Halter

Genre: Historical Fiction / Biblical

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 200

Pages: 288

My Rating: Recommend

Zipporah is the second book in The Canaan Trilogy.

Synopsis (book jacket): Although she is a Cushite by birth—one of the people of the lands to the south—Zipporah grew up as the beloved daughter of Jethro, high priest and sage of the Midianites. But the color of Zipporah’s skin sets her apart, making her an outsider to the men of her adopted tribe, who do not want her as a wife. Then one day while drawing water from a well, she meets a handsome young stranger. Like her, he is an outsider. A Hebrew raised in the house of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Moses is a fugitive, forced to flee his homeland. Zipporah realizes that this man will be the husband and partner she never thought she would have.

Moses wants nothing more than a peaceful life with the Midianites, but Zipporah won’t let Moses forget his past—or turn away from his true destiny

She refuses to marry him until he returns to Egypt to free his people. When God reveals himself to Moses in a burning bush, his words echo Zipporah’s, and Moses returns to Egypt with his passionate and generous wife by his side.

A woman ahead of her time, Zipporah leaps from the pages of this remarkable novel. Bold, independent, and a true survivor, she is a captivating heroine, and her world of deserts, temples, and ancient wonders is a fitting backdrop to an epic tal.

Review: Prior to reading this I was unaware that Moses had a wife, but he did (see Exodus 2:16-21). Halter does a good job creating a story about Moses' wife considering how little about her is historically unavailable, but in general the character of Zipporah is too everything; too bold, too independent, too strong-willed, too perfect. . . to be believable. However, that is not to say that isn't worth reading. It is. The storyline is solid (although some parts do seem longer and read more slowly than necessary) and certainly detail what is already discussed in the Bible.

Zipporah ventures into darker themes than Sarah, but as is usually the case, good triumphs over evil. It's an ending I didn't see coming; I was surprised at how much I empathized with Zipporah.