Love Amid the Ashes

In novel form the only real introspective I have had into the life of Jacob was through one of my favorite author Liz Curtis Higgs' retelling of the Biblical story of Jacob and his wives in a latter day Scotland tale in her Lowlands of Scotland series. The personality of the Jacob (Jamie) I knew there and the one I was first introduced to briefly in Love Amid the Ashes had me taken aback. But then none of us really know who or how he was as a person and we can only make assumptions due to the historical circumstances that surround parts of his life of which we are familiar. Putting that aside, I was quite taken in by both Dinah and Job in this story. Dinah once again is a Biblical character that I came to know through Liz Curtis Higgs' series (as Davina) I mentioned before in a fourth and later generation novel. I had not actually know the woman of the Bible before and from her I went into further question of who are these women and what can I learn from them.

As for my experience with Job. This is the one book that with a friend before school every Tuesday and Thursday morning we met in my car and read together through the entire book of Job word for word comparing our translations. I must tell you in that moment not only did I know a kindred spirit in my friend, but I also learned a great deal about “lovingkindness” that changed my life and perspective on God. So with having all this in my mind I was eager to step into the lives of Dinah and Job and see how things were on the front lines during some very hard times in their lives presented to us (readers) with the best of intentions through research and the imaginative mind of new to page author Mesu Andrews. (Plus there is the whole fact that my maiden name is Andrews and of course that helps.)


For one, this book starts with an absolutely gorgeous cover that really draws in your curiosity about this woman. Who is she? What was her life like? When as Christians we can find Biblical retellings that give us a bit of inspiration to imagine what the life of such a person might have been like at a certain point in time it makes it easier to realize that they indeed are/were real people that lived lives full of lessons so that we might learn from their mistakes.

I'm enthralled and look forward to Mesu's next book said to be in March 2012 about King Solomon.

Thanks to author Mesu Andrews and Revell Books for providing a copy for review.

Originally posted: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2011/03/27/love-amid-the-ashes-by-mesu-andrews/