The Dovekeepers
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4.4 • 21 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
‘A major contribution to twenty-first-century literature’ Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and author of Beloved
In the year 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against the Roman army in ancient Israel. Only two women and five children survived.
Based on this tragic event, Alice Hoffman weaves a spellbinding story about the lives of four bold and remarkable women during desperate days of the siege of Masada, when supplies are dwindling and the Romans are drawing near.
Yael is the assassin’s daughter, Revka’s life has been torn apart by the Romans, Aziza has been raised as a warrior and Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic. All are dovekeepers, and all are keepers of secrets – about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.
The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s masterpiece.
Praise for The Dovekeepers
‘Hoffman is a writer of great perception and she captures with precision the complexity of the relationships between the women, their fear and guilt, their courage, their hunger for consolation and companionship’ Guardian
‘Fascinating . . . Hoffman’s grasp of her subject compels respect’ Helen Dunmore, The Times
‘A book as monumental as its subject, magical, moving, quite beautifully written and probably Hoffman’s best. A genuine masterpiece’ Daily Mail
‘I would share the incredible creative power and intense imagination of Alice Hoffman, whose novel The Dovekeepersshows just how far and deep historical fiction can go’ Observer, ‘What Will Be Under Your Tree This Christmas’
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Almost too dense to bear, Hoffman's 23rd novel is brimming with doom, based on the story of the mass suicide of Jewish Zealots at Masada as recorded by the historian Josephus. Set in the first century, the blood-soaked saga unfolds from the perspectives of four courageous Jewish women whose lives converge in the dovecotes of the rebel desert stronghold. Yael is an assassin's daughter who flees Jerusalem as it falls to the Romans, arriving pregnant with the child of her father's married colleague. Revka, her husband murdered by the Romans, comes with her two grandsons, rendered mute after witnessing their mother's disembowelment by Roman soldiers. Shirah, from Alexandria, possibly a witch, brings her beautiful daughter Aziza, who having learned the ways of men among the tribesmen of Moab, uses her warrior's skills to fight in this last stand against the Roman legions. Suspicious of one another early on, the women, each with her own secrets and talents, powerful lovers and magical spells, soon develop a loyalty so fierce that they are willing to sacrifice everything for each other and for the children they are entrusted with. Hoffman (Here on Earth) can tell a tale and knows about creating compassionate characters, but the leaden archaic prose style she uses tells more than it shows. Massive descriptive paragraphs slow the action, until, by the end, the reader is simply worn out.
Customer Reviews
INCREDIBLE
A couple of pages in I thought this was going to be horribly boring, but I'm so glad I read a little further, I was hooked this book is absolutely amazing.
Brilliant Book
An amazing story, based on fact, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a thought provoking, well written and such an emotive read, I was mesmerised both by the four individual sections concentrating on each individual woman’s journey and the authors care in ensuring that the story was presented with honesty and integrity. The amount of research that must have been undertaken! I found myself needing to learn more as I read and would stop reading in order to research certain aspects of the book as it peaked my desire for more information. Alice Hoffman is a literary great.