Duck Egg Designs runs a monthly book club chaired by our Editor Supreme, Jess. Last month our Book was Alice Hoffman's - THE DOVEKEEPERS.
Review below:
The
Dovekeepers – Alice Hoffman
This
is the first book of Alice Hoffman’s that I’ve ever come across; I was really
surprised when I found out how many others she’d written! It was recommended to me sometime ago but I
only decided to give it a try when I was thinking of a book to kick off the
Book Club with. I’m actually really glad
I did!
The
story of the Dovekeepers is set in 70 AD and is based on the true story of the
siege of the fortress Masada following the fall of Jerusalem Masada (once King Herod’s palace)
became a place of refuge for fleeing Jews as it was considered
impregnable. However, the Roman Army was
determined to conquer it and this story had a tragic ending with a mass suicide
of the 900 Jewish inhabitants when the Romans finally began to breach the
walls. According to the ancient
historian, Josephus, only two women and five children survived.
The
Dovekeepers follows the stories of four women.
We begin with Yael’s story as she flees with her father and another
family from Jerusalem Masada . Revka, who witnessed the horrific murder of
her daughter at the hands of Roman soldiers, comes to Masada
with her two grandsons who have been rendered mute by what they have seen and
her son in law who has become a fearsome warrior following the death of his
wife. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter,
raised as a boy and taught the skills of warfare she must somehow stay true to
herself though women are forbidden from touching weapons. Shirah, Aziza’s mother, is learned in the
ways of ancient magic but must conceal all she is and all she knows for fear of
being cast out again.
This
story is so complex it would take me a long time to even begin to summarise all
that happens. Hoffman has written the
book in four sections, one for each of the four women but as all of these women
become dovekeepers at Masada she has cleverly weaved each woman into the stories
of the other’s, so we follow the journey of all four women right until the end.
The
book is so detailed and precise, Hoffman literally takes you on a journey; you
can feel the relentless heat of the desert, smell the intense scent of the
dovecote and feel the emotions of each woman.
From
reading summaries of Alice Hoffman’s other books, she often writes about magic
and there is an element of that in this book.
The magic is quite dark but doesn’t take away from the story. I don’t know whether this is magic which was
practised by women at that time but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
I
really enjoyed reading the historical note at the end and discovering that
Hoffman had kept a lot of fact in her story.
I would love to visit the site of Masada
at some point as the idea that over 900 Jews chose mass suicide rather than
face the Romans is utterly fascinating.
That the man leading them could inspire them to do so is also something
which intrigues me.
Perhaps
something to bear in mind is the fact that the book is lengthy. At 500 pages it
isn’t a light read and the material can sometimes feel a bit hefty. It’s worth persevering with it though as I
think it’s a great story, perhaps more so because it has an element of fact in
it, I don’t know.
This
is a story of loss, love, suffering and survival and I would recommend it 100%.
Jess - Duck Egg Book Club - Editor
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Team Duck Egg. x
Although this novel was published in 2011, I read it in 2012. It's currently the best book I've read this year. It will be very hard for another to knock it off that position.
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