Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Hoffman ( The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
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