Recommended Reading: Isle of Shadows and So Shines the Night

About a month before our trip to Europe I purchased a new book for my Kindle - "Isle of Shadows" by Tracy Higley.  This is one in a series of stand alone novels about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  The story took place on the Grecian island of Rhodes whose heroine was from Ancient Delos.   Part of the description from Amazon:

Enslaved in a World of Money and Power, Tessa Dares to be Free.
Raised as courtesan to wealthy and powerful men, Tessa of Delos serves at the whim of her current patron, the politician Glaucus. After ten years with him, Tessa has abandoned all desire for freedom or love, choosing instead to lock her heart away.
But when Glaucus meets a violent death in his own home, Tessa grasps at a fragile hope. Only she knows of his death. If she can keep it a secret long enough, she can escape.
Tessa throws herself on the mercy of the Greek god Helios, but finds instead unlikely allies in Nikos, a Greek slave, and Simeon, Glaucus's Jewish head servant. As Simeon introduces her to a God unlike any she has ever known and Nikos begins to stir feelings she had thought long dead, Tessa fights to keep her heart protected.

I started reading this a couple days after we visited Ancient Delos and enjoyed the story very much.  It was easy to picture the statues, homes, meeting places and markets.  This story takes place in 227 B.C. during the 400 silent years of the Jewish nation so there were no Biblical stories to relate it to, although there were Jews trying to live according to the Law.

When I saw that another book in this series was based in Ephesus I knew I had to get it!  Part of the description for "So Shines the Night" from Amazon:

In a city teetering at the brink of anarchy, Daria finds hope among people of The Way.
She escaped a past of danger and found respite in beautiful Ephesus, a trading center on the Aegean coast, serving as tutor to Lucas, the wealthy merchant who rescued her.
But the darkness she fled has caught up with her.
The high priests of Artemis once controlled the city, but a group of sorcerers are gaining power. And a strange group who call themselves followers of The Way further threaten the equilibrium. As Daria investigates Lucas's exploits into the darker side of the city, her life is endangered, and she takes refuge in the strange group of believers. She's drawn to Paul and his friends, even as she wrestles with their teachings.

I finished reading "So Shines the Night" last week and it was fascinating!  This story was written from events founds in Acts chapter 19. I went to my post about the Ruins of Ephesus more than once to look at a picture of something we had seen - the Marble Road, the Great Theater, the State Agora, even the brothel.  The author stayed very true to the story of Paul, the seven sons of Sceva, Demetrius the silversmith, and many others.  The fictional characters did not take away from the story at all.  I enjoyed this story even more than Isle of Shadows because I could picture every place in the book and the characters from the Bible just came to life.

Tracy Higley has written three more stories so far about the ancient wonders - Pyramid of Secrets about Moses and Pharoah, Garden of Madness about Nebuchadnezzar, and Keeper of the Flame about Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt.  These are now all on my wish list!  There are other books she has written as well that look interesting.  In fact, as I was writing this post I found "Star of Wonder" on Amazon for free today!  This is the first in a series about the journey of the wise men.  The complete 3 book series "Incense Road" is available for $4.99.  I recommend downloading the free book today to get a taste of Tracy Higley's writing.

Do you enjoy Biblical or historical fiction?

Jane Eyre and Temptation

Les got me a Kindle for my birthday and I am enjoying it immensely! One of the greatest features is being able to download many Classics for free. I have Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and many others.

I finished rereading Jane Eyre this week. I was in Junior High when I read this, so I didn't remember many details. It was like a new book. It is so well written. The characters are fascinating, with dialogue you don't find in books today.

Of course one of the most powerful scenes is when Jane and Mr. Rochester are to be married. The wedding is interrupted and we finally meet Mr. Rochester's lunatic wife. Mr. Rochester then tries to convince Jane to run away with him. Here are Jane's thoughts:

This was true: and while he spoke my very conscience and reason turned traitors against me, and charged me with crime in resisting him. They spoke almost as loud as Feeling: and that clamoured wildly. “Oh, comply!” it said. “Think of his misery; think of his danger—look at his state when left alone; remember his headlong nature; consider the recklessness following on despair—soothe him; save him; love him; tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for you? or who will be injured by what you do?”

Still indomitable was the reply—“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.”

Jane Eyre was published in 1847, but those words about temptation I find relevant today. How often we humans try to rationalize our breaking of the God's laws. "Think of his misery." As if choosing to comfort Mr. Rochester would have been justification for breaking God's laws. "Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this..."

If you've never read Jane Eyre, find it at your local library. It's not light and easy reading, but it will be worth your while.