April says, "I promise you can feel the sand under your feet as you read, hear sandals walking on paving stones. "

Over five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research, set in ancient Israel.

In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and an expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.

The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love. The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s masterpiece.

 

April says:

"Told from the perspective of four women, The Dovekeepers creatively recounts the Jewish exodus from Jerusalem to Masada, an ancient fortress of King Herod, the last holdout against the Roman invasion.  Historically, we are told that two women and five children survived Masada; and the events that lead up to those seven folks walking out are no less than magical.

The four narrators are young; and they are old.  And throughout their passages they prove that age doesn't just happen as the earth cruises round the sun, but it can be heaped on you at any moment.  Yael, the first narrator, is naive and childish in her own frighteningly mature way, but she grows into a formidable woman--steeped with scars above and below the skin.  The other three are a baker's wife, a girl who has never been taught her place, and a woman who has such devotion she forsakes everything else.

Though there is a historical record to contend with in this novel, I am in awe of Hoffman's ability to bring such a unique place and time to life.  Not just on the page.  I promise you can feel the sand under your feet as you read, hear sandals walking on paving stones.  The language and the word choice make Judaism mystical as well as those who practice the religion.  The entire book is visual and demands a paced read to catch the sunlight on each page.  Every image requests the reader's imagination and won't let go until you see every facet.

This will be a great book for fans of historical fiction as well as anyone with an interest in religious history.  Moms and daughters will probably love it as well."