Lenka S. reviewed on 7/4/2009 + 829 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 4

To expand a few chapters in the Book of Genesis into a novel about Leah, the first wife of Jacob, would not be easy, but Cynthia Davis does so in a way that breathes human emotions into the many characters of the story. The account is well-known to Old Testament readers: Jacob, son of Isaac, arrives in Haran to visit kin. He is smitten with Rachel, the youngest daughter of Laban, yet Leah, the eldest, must be married first. Unfortunately for her, "Leah was dull-eyed, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful." In return for marrying Rachel, Jacob agrees to work seven years for Laban, but on the wedding night the wiley father subsitutes Leah. Another seven years to get Rachel! Told mostly from Leah's point of view, Davis is adept at showing the strains and jealousies in the growing nomadic household: seven children are born to Leah, two to Rachel and four others to the women's two slaves. Description and dialogue fill in the starkness of the Genesis account, which takes us through to the reunion with Joseph in Egypt and Jacob's final realization of the dying Leah's devotion. "You are my faithful Leah...the strength of my family."

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