Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Harvest of Rubies: a love story set in the Ancient Persian court


Harvest of Rubies by Tessa Afshar is the story of Sarah, a young Jewish woman with the ability to learn multiple languages, is trained to be a scribe. Her talents lead her to the employment of Queen Damaspia, wife of Atraxerxes, the king of Persia. She quickly finds herself trying to untangle an accusation made by the queen mother, Amestris, against Queen Damaspia. When Sarah unravels the lies and helps avert disaster, she wins the heart and favor of the queen. Her reward is to be married to one of Atraxerxes’ valued subjects. Darius isn’t thrilled by the prospect of marriage just as Sarah tries to get out of it. But they realize that they have no choice. As their marriage finds a rocky start, Sarah tries to make the most of her new role and life and she again finds herself uncovering an evil scheme against Darius’ estate. The schemer soon reveals that he has dangerous intentions. Can she uncover enough evidence to convince Darius of the evil scheme? Will Darius learn to trust her enough to follow the evidence? Will she trust the Lord enough to guide her through?


I loved Harvest of Rubies. Right from the start, I was drawn to Sarah and her intelligence and her modest opinion of herself. She feels that her only redeeming quality, her only value is being a scribe. When that is taken away from her, she is at a lost as her value. Ms. Afshar paints a detailed description of Persian court life and the societal structure of the time. I enjoyed Darius, a man of pride who finds himself drawn to his new bride despite his desire to keep his distance. As Darius and Sarah investigate the scheme, they learn that their first impressions weren’t the truth. Their love story felt very realistic as explanations and apologies don’t automatically result in trust and love. Darius and Sarah’s interactions with each are electrifying and by the end I smiled and laughed at their antics with each other. Their story continues in Harvest of Gold, which I will be reviewing soon. I highly recommend Harvest of Rubies.

Harvest of Rubies
is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

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