Esther
Authors: Rebecca Kanner
PRAISE FOR
“You will love Rebecca Kanner's take on the biblical queen Esther, a woman not only beautiful of face and form but also preternaturally wise, resourceful, spirited, morally courageous, and kind-hearted. Reading Kanner's beautifully descriptive, mesmerizing tale of an enslaved harem girl's transformation to powerful queen, and how she used her power to save her people from annihilation, had me turning the pages late into the night. Readers will alternately fret for her and cheer for her while wishing not only to befriend this remarkable heroine but to
be
her. Skillful, empathetic characterizations; elegant writing; and seamless, edge-of-the-seat plotting make
Esther
a novel you won't want to put down, and that you'll wish would never end.”
âSherry Jones, author of
The Jewel of Medina
and
The Sharp Hook of Love
“The book of Esther comes to life in this vivid novel based on the Old Testament tale . . . Kanner's descriptions are convincing and rich.”
â
Kirkus Reviews
“Kanner has done it again. A beautiful story spun with the gilt and grit of historical detail and biblical tradition. Esther's story the way it really could have happened, a riveting tale of courage.”
âTosca Lee,
New York Times
bestselling author
“In her compelling novel of this well-known biblical heroine, Rebecca Kanner reveals the story of Esther as it's never been told. With evocative prose and vivid historical detail, Kanner's riveting story brings to life an imperfect, conflicted woman gifted with both beauty and intelligence. With strength and courage, Esther navigates the dangers of Xerxes' court and her own desires to become the heroine of her story and save a nation.”
âStephanie Landsem, author of
The Tomb
“Like a shimmering mirage, the peasant girl Hadassah rises from humble roots to become the beguiling Queen Esther. Let this tale of exotic lands and palace intrigues weave its spell on you. You will be rattled, enthralled, and ultimately won over as Rebecca Kanner brings another woman of the Bible to radiant life.”
âDuncan W. Alderson, author of the
Harper's Bazaar
must-read
Magnolia City
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Chapter 2:Â The Virgins' March
Chapter 4:Â Goddess of Bullheadedness
Chapter 14:Â Life in the Harem
Chapter 17:Â The Women's Court
Chapter 19:Â The Bloody Dagger
Chapter 23:Â The Approach of My Night with the King
Chapter 24:Â Erez, the King, and I
Chapter 27:Â In the King's Chamber
Chapter 29:Â My Servant, My Guard
Chapter 30:Â Heavy Is the Head
Chapter 32:Â The Brothers' Blood
Chapter 33:Â The King's Soldier
Chapter 39:Â Here Lies the Empire
Chapter 40:Â The Plot on the King's Life
Chapter 44:Â A Crime One Woman Commits Against Another
Chapter 45:Â Xerxes' Homecoming
Chapter 47:Â The Woman Who Walked Beside Me
Chapter 48:Â Haman's Visit to the Royal Treasury
Chapter 50:Â Time Is Servant to No One
Chapter 54:Â The Golden Scepter
Chapter 56:Â Friends and Allies
For Lynn
Esther: | an orphan who is kidnapped and taken to the king's harem |
Mordecai: | Esther's cousin who takes her in after her parents are killed in a revolt in Babylon |
Xerxes: | king of Persia |
Erez: | an Immortal with whom Esther has a complicated relationship |
Hegai: | the powerful eunuch who takes a liking to Esther |
Ruti: | Esther's servant |
Haman: | a high-ranking adviser to the king and enemy of the Jews |
Parsha: | Haman's firstborn son, one of Esther's tormentors |
Dalphon: | Haman's second-born son |
Halannah: | Haman's niece and Xerxes' favorite concubine, she aspires to be queen |
Bigthan: | one of the many eunuchs who serve in the palace of Shushan |
Hathach: | a eunuch assigned to Esther, Esther questions whether he serves her or the king |
Cyra: | Esther's childhood friend |
Utanah: | the first girl to volunteer to be one of Esther's handmaids, she was suspiciously absent from the harem when the virgins were assigned their places |
Opi: | a Nubian girl, Esther tries to befriend her |
KIDNAPPED
Outside the Persian capital city of Shushan, 480 BCE
They were the night itself. First the darkness and then the blinding light of torches that hid the stars. The whinnying of horses, the crying of a hundred girls, the clashing of swords. The smell of flesh that has traveled a long way through the desert, bringing with it dust and sweat from far-off lands.
I was lying on my straw mattress when I heard the hooves pounding in the distance. It was much too long past the day's end for a merchant's caravan to be traveling upon the road, and the sound was not the slow plodding of oxen, elephants, or camels. It was the hard and fast approach of horses.
My hands started to shake. They did not want to obey me, but mostly they did, clumsily tying my head scarf behind my neck. My feet too were clumsy as I slid them into sandals and wound the straps around my ankles, all the way up to my calves. I pulled them tight. Because I knew. I knew why the hooves came.
Yet I did not run.
I no longer knew what would save me and what would lead to my death. I did not even know if the pounding in my ears was hooves striking the ground or the beating of my own heart. The horses were upon the villageâI could smell dust rising from the road.
The door was yanked open and a shadow blocked the light of the stars. It would haunt me until I learned who had cast it. As it approached I heard not only heavy footsteps but also the clanking of armor. The king's soldiers had fallen upon the village. And not just ordinary soldiers, of whom the king had hundreds of thousands, but the king's most elite, highly trained force: Immortals.
A month before, the king had issued a decree that virgins from every province of his empire were to be gathered and brought to the palace at Shushan to serve in his harem. At the news, my cousin, Mordecai, had said,
Soldiers are lazy, they save themselves for great battles. They will take only the girls nearest the palace.
So he had sent me only a day's journey from the heart of Shushan, to a village where a friend of his was willing to let me stay in the tiny servants' quarters behind his hut.
As the Immortal came to hover over me, the rest of my cousin's words rang in my ears:
Though Xerxes is the richest man in the world, he will not feel rich until there is nothing, anywhere, that is not his.
It seemed the shadow was Xerxes himself emerging from my cousin's tales, hungry to add me to his possessions.
“Forgive me,” the Immortal said. No two words had ever terrified me so greatly.
Forgive me.
He spoke loudly, as though he spoke not to me but to someone else who was not so near. Perhaps to his god. He pulled me from my straw mattress, threw me over his shoulder, and began walking. My head fell against his armor.
His shoulder pressed up into my belly, making it hard to speak, but still I tried. “Pleaseâ” I did not finishâI didn't want the words
do not make me spend the rest of my life as a harem concubine
to exist in the world.
He did not hesitate at the doorway of the hut. He had already asked forgiveness for all he would do.
As we approached the road I could hear girls crying, and I did not want to join my voice to theirs. I did not want to be one of them. I had cried while Xerxes' soldiers quashed the last revolt of Babylon so brutally that for days the city smelled of blood. My tears had not saved my parents.
Instead I felt for the soldier's dagger. My fingers wrapped around it and slid it from his belt.
Lord, let it be me who will need to ask for forgiveness.
I plunged it up the inside of the soldier's tunic sleeve with all my strength.