A number of authors have used the Underground Railroad as the focal point of their literary works. Some of the books portray it more realistically than others. There are a lot of myths surrounding this system. For instance, the Underground Railroad was not a railroad. It was a network of secret routes and “safe houses” established primarily in the Northern part of the United States and Canada during the early to mid-19th century. The term “railroad” was used because the railroad was an emerging system of transportation and its supporters used railroad code to communicate in secret language. The Underground Railroad was used by runaway slaves seeking freedom with the help of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.
The Dovekeepers
The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s most ambitious and mesmerizing novel: “striking….Hoffman grounds her expansive, intricately woven, and deepest new novel in biblical history, with a devotion and seriousness of purpose” ( Entertainment Weekly).
Nearly two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.
The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.
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A Year’s Worth of Book Club Book Choices – From My Neighborhood Book Club
One year of book club choices
One of the things that can put even the most experienced book club member into a state of panic is picking the book club book choice. The pressure to pick a book that everyone loves, that inspires great conversation, is readily available and easy to read in a short time period can be stressful! But, it does not need to be! Repeat after me: There is no perfect book. [Read more…] about A Year’s Worth of Book Club Book Choices – From My Neighborhood Book Club