The Serpent and the Staff
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK
Set in the tumultuous era when Egypt is on the brink of becoming the dominant world power, The Serpent and the Staff tells the powerful story of a Canaanite family's struggle for survival in a climate of violent change, when cherished beliefs and traditions are threatened.
Ugarit, Syria, 1450 B.C.E. Eighteen-year-old Leah, the eldest daughter of a wealthy winemaker, is past the traditional age of betrothal. Vowed to wed the wealthy but cruel shipbuilder Jotham, Leah declines his offer of marriage after discovering that he and his family suffer from “the falling sickness.” Enraged by her refusal and his ruined reputation, he blackmails Leah’s father, a punishment forgiven only by offering Leah’s hand in marriage. With no more options for another suitor and no male heir for her family, Leah must seek out the cure for Jotham’s sickness or her family will face permanent ruin.
During her quest Leah begins to burn with desire for Daveed, the handsome household scribe whose culture forbids their union. Daveed has been called by the gods to restore the Brotherhood, an elite fraternity of guardians at the great Library of Ugarit, rumored to contain the secret symbol of immortality within its ancient archives. If his plan succeeds, it may also save Leah’s family from disaster. But even Daveed and Leah cannot fathom the extent of Jotham’s sinister schemes to make Leah his bride once and for all.
With rich historical detail, The Serpent and the Staff is a sweeping tale of love, betrayal, and how one family's faith can overcome the obstacles that life has in store for them.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A historical romance set in Old Testament-era, Wood s (Domina) latest novel, traces the travails of Elias the Vintner s family through the fall of Jericho and to coastal metropolis Ugarit, Syria where the drama and intrigue have only just begun. The story s heroine is the gentle and down-to-earth Leah, Elias s 19 year-old daughter. Having rejected Jotham the Shipbuilder s affections and attracting his obsessive hatred instead, Leah is looking to cure the falling sickness, his family affliction, as a peace offering. In the process, Leah falls in love with Daveed, a quiet scribe of royal lineage whose destiny seems always to be at a cross-purpose with her own. The prose is at times embarrassingly purple billowing fabrics and bracelets jangle on slim wrists in the perfumed evening breeze, but the plot and pacing are masterful, and there is enough sex, betrayal, murder, and intrigue to keep the most skeptical readers breathlessly turning pages. Wood skillfully envisions a society set in biblical times, with people-trading, marrying and scheming in a thriving coastal town at the center of ancient trade routes, rendered in soft focus but with marvelous clarity and complexity.
