Egyptian Chronicles Potiphar's Wife, (Paperback)

"Then we trust Him together for a future we don't understand and perhaps see His goodness when we recount our past." I knew I would love this book because Mesu Andrews wrote it. I also knew there would be well-researched history and culture woven throughout the story, beautiful and engaging writing style, multiple voices painting the story, and a strong faith thread - all the reasons I adore the author's books. What I didn't expect was Zully, the main character. She speaks in first person as Potiphar's wife and her Minoan background was delightful to learn about. I unfortunately did not understand her character nor empathize with her, even at the end of the book. Her obsession with her island home and her destructive nature did not sit well with me. So why am I giving this book 5 stars? Because the book is that good and that powerful, even with a main character who is more a villainess than heroine. The redemption and grace offered and received are truly powerful; I needed to be reminded of this all-encompassing grace. Potiphar is a layered character in this book whose point of view is expressed in third person. His love for Zully was mind-blowing and his tenderness surprising. Joseph also enters the plot in third person perspective and we get to see a very human side of this Biblical hero. Ahira, a fictional Hebrew character enslaved from Jacob's camp, also has a third person voice as Zully's maid but also as Joseph's love interest. There is a sequel coming next year and I'm so hoping that we'll get to see Potiphar and Ahira again. This story, told through the eyes and hearts of four very different people, reveals a captivating epic saga of love, desire, betrayal, politics, grace, mercy, and forgiveness under El Roi, the God Who Sees. Mesu Andrews is one of the best Biblical fiction authors and you'll want to read this latest masterpiece by this gifted writer. It will make you think, reach for your Bible, and pray as the journey unfolds. I received the book from the publisher and was under no obligation to post a positive comment. All opinions are my own.

Mesu Andrews is a master at creating a story that embraces the cultural setting, customs and attitudes of the time. Her extensive historical research not only grasps the period but also captures the historical figures so well that you can't help but believe the resulting story could very well be what truly happened or is at least exceptionally close to the true events. This story sets the reader into the time and place of Joseph's life between his time in slavery and his rise to power in Egypt. Andrews crafts a brilliantly balanced storyline with multiple POVs, writing Potiphar's wife in close and personal first person while other POVs were written in third person. The emotions I felt while reading were part of what I found to be so compelling. Andrews characters are well developed, vivid and frustrating, even extremely lost and sinful yet you want them to find Elohim all the same. Potiphar's wife. A woman who suffered loss yet sacrificed so much for the sake of her homeland. The life she loved and the future she clung to died in a day. With no time to grieve, she performed her duty as their princess and the only answer to the rebuilding of her beloved Crete. Zuleikha (Zully) is both aggravating, manipulative, and unnerving. Her constant deception continually creates a wake of destruction within her path. This story delves into the possible triggers and motivations for why she was who she was and acted as she did. She was ridiculed by the noblewomen, put to shame, and publicly shunned. Even Potiphar left her just a day after they wed and kept making promises that he did not keep....”His promises were as empty as my heart.” Zully had no support, no family and no real purpose anymore. She just wanted to go home. This novel also explores the atrocities and brutality, sinfulness, lies, greed and illicit acts individuals will commit for the sake of power and insatiable longings to have their own way. The magnitude of conflict throughout the storyline was, no doubt, true to the time in history but unsettling all the same. Even so, the last third of the book was amazing, as Andrews weaves Elohim through the wreckage created by each MC and creates a beautiful and unexpected ending. I received this book from the publisher free of charge with no expectation of a positive review.