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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