Daughters of the Desert
Stories of Remarkable Women from Christian, Jewish and Muslim Traditions
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
How would the most cherished stories of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam be different if women were the active central figures?
This ground-breaking collection of short stories brings to life the women—daring, brave, thoughtful, and wise—who played important and exciting roles in the early days of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Join Esther as she stands against injustice and her king to save her people, Aisha as she leads hundreds of men into terrifying battle, and Mary as she and Elizabeth dream of the new lives growing inside them. How must Sarah have felt, turning Hagar out into the desert? And how must Hagar have felt, traveling from the safety and security of Abraham's land toward an uncertain future? These stories invite us to come to know and appreciate the struggles and triumphs of these women—mothers, daughters, believers and seekers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
These five authors, of Jewish and Christian backgrounds, originally set out to write about ancient women from their own faith traditions, but realized through the story of Hagar that they also needed to "embrace another branch of the family tree": Islam. Here, they offer 18 fictionalized vignettes about the lives of various women, including important figures from Scripture and tradition (Esther, Miriam, Eve/Hawa). There are also sketches of women who have probably been misunderstood or simply overlooked (Shiphrah, the midwife who disobeyed Pharaoh's order to murder any baby boys she delivered). The final section explores several women who are important in Islam, such as Fatima, Khadija and of course Hagar, mother of Ishmael. The device of using short stories to better establish these women's characters and spiritual motivations works well and should appeal to a wide audience.
