Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
After losing several battles with their enemies due to a lack of a unified leader, the people cry out for a king. Reluctantly, the Prophet Samuel anoints farmer Saul as the first king of Israel because he is the only successful warrior in the land. King Saul suffers from dark moods that only his Harper David can ease with music. When David kills Goliath, he becomes the people's hero. David marries Saul's daughter Michal, but the jealous King plans to kill him. David flees and Saul annuls the marriage. He forces Michal to wed a farmer, Phatiel. Over the next decade, Saul goes mad, while Michal is contented.
When Saul and most of his sons die in battle, David becomes the king. He takes Michal away from Phatiel, but she insists on going home. David refuses to let her go and Phatiel dies in a suspicious accident. Over the years the popular David expands his kingdom and marries several women, including Bathsheba.
Years later, an elderly David lies dying without naming a successor. Michal takes his regal ring and gives it to Bathsheba's son Solomon. Michal realizes she has won because David coveted wealth and power while she sought love.
QUEENMAKER is a well-written historical fiction that provides a different slant on King David one of the more popular biblical figures. David, as seen through the eyes of Michael, his reluctant wife and queen, is a man who covets power and wealth Readers who believe in a literal translation of the Bible need to realize that David is treated as a selfish, Machiavellian individual. Through an interesting twist that uses references from the Kings Saul-David eras, India Edghill writes a fabulous but controversial work of biblical historical fiction that will please some readers while insulting others.