Zelda Fitzgerald (24 July, 1900 – 10 March, 1948) was an American author, painter and socialite. Together with her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, they became the symbol for the Roaring 20s.

Lux by Elizabeth Cook – a retelling of Books 1 & 2 Samuel in the Hebrew Bible, the story of King David, how it applied to King Henry VIII, and poet Thomas Wyatt

T.F. Powys ((20 December, 1875 – 27 November, 1953) was a British writer and novelist. His novel, Mr. Weston’s Good Wine is probably his most famous story.

Amazing Jewish Heroes Down Through The Ages by David Richard Goldberg – short biographies of famous Jews meant as an introduction to these ground-breakers

This is a refreshing and unique book, which provides a deeper understanding into a complicated, and sometimes contradictory, story.

I really enjoyed that the author didn’t just look at historical contexts, but also at political and social contexts at the time the texts were written.

Seven Mothers by Yochi Brandes is a fascinating book which turns some of the Jewish bible stories on their head by infusing new thinking from a modern woman into the stories which are much beloved. Mrs. Brandes writes about Moab’s mother, Tamar, Miriam the Prophets (Moses’ sister),the Pharaoh’s daughter, Ruth, Michal and Queen Ester.

Melachim Gimmel by Yochi Brandes (מלכים ג- יוכי ברנדס) a fascinating book attempting to turn some of the Bible stories on their heads giving a new perspective.

I borrowed this book from the local library. My rating for The Gilded Chamber– 4 About: “The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther” by Rebecca Kohn is a familiar story, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan, is being brought to the court of King Xerxes as a possible queen. Hiding her Jewish origins she changes her name to Esther, becomes queen and saves the Jews from certain death (now…let’s eat). Buy “The Gilded Chamber” and get a royal treat Thoughts: The book itself is very inventive biblical fiction, I must give the author credit and I really enjoyed the first part of the book. However, for me the book took a wrong turn by not sticking with the biblical timeline and taking too many liberties with the “fiction” part of biblical fiction. Part of my enjoyment reading fiction is that I learn something along the way, if I have to pick apart what’s accurate and what’s not it takes away from the experience. The female characters are drawn very nicely, but the males seemed to be a bit flat and uninteresting. That’s too bad because Xerxes, Mordechai and Haman are fascinating cultural, historical and biblical characters by their own right. This…

“Pearl in the Sand” by Tessa Afshar, a biblical fiction novel, is the story of Rahab, one of the most thought provoking women of the Jewish bible (the Old Testament), in the book of Joshua. Rahab is a woman of the city of Jericho and works in the world’s oldest profession, a prostitute as well as an inn keeper. Rahab earned praise in the bible because of her unique faith, as well as being of the lineage of Jesus.