La Bibliofille Reviewing books, movies, TV, etc.

Sarah is the first book in Marek Halter’s “Canaan Trilogy”, a series about three women of the Bible. It tells the story of Sarai, a daughter of a lord of the ancient Sumerian city-state of Ur, who marries Abram. They become the matriarch and patriarch of the Jewish people. Yes, we know them best as Sarah and Abraham, but that name change comes later in the tale.

Halter’s narrative is loosely based on the chapters in Genesis which detail this very important story. I am no historian, but Halter has obviously done his research and his descriptions of life in ancient times seem genuine. In fact, the details of daily life among the ancients are the most interesting part of this book. The descriptions of the emotional lives of the characters seem one-dimensional, especially for such an important story.

Sarah, however, did send me back to read my Bible. I was interested in seeing how much of this story came from the Bible (not much), and what Halter had invented.

I am going to read the other books in the series-Zipporah, wife of Moses and Lilah. I’m hoping the stories will be a bit more compelling.

In USA:
Published in hardcover-Crown Publishers 2004
Softcover edition-Three Rivers Press 2005

Sarah: A Novel (Canaan Trilogy)