The Pharaoh's Daughter by Mesu Andrews

Mesu Andrews, author of The Pharaoh’s Daughter, warns in her Note to Reader that “The names and themes of this book are complex” and she is right.  They are in fact so complex that even by the end of the book, I was still having a hard time keeping them straight.  It was not just the names of people that were complex, but the titles of people (mother, father, aunt), as well as the names of objects.  Ms. Andrews does include a genealogy and map of Egypt, but I would have very much appreciated a glossary as well.  The confusion of who was who and what was what actually took away from the enjoyment of the story for me.

That being said, however, the story was very good.  Of course the original story, straight from the pages of Scripture—the story of Moses and the Pharaoh’s daughter who rescued him from the Nile River is exciting all by itself.  The record of Moses’ birth and childhood is contained in the Bible in Exodus 2:1-10, with the history of what was happening in Egypt in that time recorded in Exodus chapter 1.  These 32 verses are the basis of the entire book, The Pharaoh’s Daughter.  

Ms. Andrews took the story a step further and (obviously) did much historical research to flesh the story out.  She includes many details about the culture and traditions of the day, the historical figures, their dress, work and food.  All her research and details really made the story and its characters come alive!  That’s what I love about historical Christian fiction that is based on actual Bible characters, it makes them very real to me.  Mesu Andrews did a wonderful job of that—making Moses and his adopted mother, the Pharaoh’s daughter come alive, not to mention their other family members and the rulers of day.  

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.