Good Books Based on the Good Book

Novels of "Biblical" Proportions.

Ann Burton
Rahab’s Story. Signet, 2005
A secret believer in her late mother's religion of Judaism, Rahab is accused of witchcraft and banished by her stepmother to the streets of Jericho where she is forced to sell her body. She retains her faith in God, but when Jewish spies appear, begging her to hide them, she must decide: stay safe and deny them-or help her fellow believers and transform herself from harlot to heroine..

Anita Diamant
The Red Tent. St. M., 1997.
Told by Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob and Leah, The Red Tent is the story of her childhood in Mesopotamia, her calling to midwifery, and death in Egypt.

Lloyd C. Douglas
The Robe. HM, 1942.
Marcellus, a tribune in the time of Christ, is placed in command of the soldiers assigned to crucify Jesus. While playing a game of chance, he wins the dead man’s homespun robe and is subsequently plagued by nightmares. Hoping to find a way to live with what he has done, he returns to Palestine to learn what he can of the man he killed

India Edghill
Queenmaker. St. M., 2002.
Michal, the beautiful and proud daughter of King Saul, meets and falls in love with the handsome David, but is instead married off to Phaltiel, a farmer. In time, she learns to love Phaltiel but David risks his kingdom to make her his own.

Eva Etzioni-Halevy
The Garden of Ruth. Plume, 2007.
Osnath, niece of the prophet Samuel, finds a scrap of parchment revealing that Ruth the great-grandmother of David had a lover. Intrigued, Osnath, digs into the past but she finds her inquires into the truth blocked by David’s brother, Eliab. By the same author: The Triumph of Deborah. (Plume, 2008)

The Song of Hannah. Plume, 2005.
Childhood friends Hannah and Pninah become rivals when they both marry Elkanah. Pninah bears Elkanah many children, but seeks fulfillment with her secret lover. The loyal and devoted Hannah remains childless until a promise to God brings her the son she has yearned for:  Samuel, who is destined to become one of the great prophets of the Jewish people.

Margaret George
Mary, Called Magdalene. Viking, 2002.
George recreates the life of Mary Magdalene, following her from her strict, middle-class childhood in a prosperous fishing village and to her role as wife and mother before becoming a disciple of Jesus and head of the Christian church in Ephesus.

Marek Halter
Sarah. Crown, 2004.
At the age of 12, to escape from an unwanted marriage Sarah drinks a potion that renders her sterile. She eventually becomes priestess to Ishtar, but when she meets Abram who she met briefly in her youth, she gives up her exalted life to join Abram's tribe and follow the one true God. By the same author: Zipporah, Wife of Moses (2005), Lilah (2006), Mary of Nazareth (2008), The Book of Abraham (1986), The Children of Abraham (1990).

Rebecca Kohn
The Gilded Chamber. St. M., 2004.
Orphaned Esther starts a new life with her cousin Mordecai, a high treasury official serving King Xerxes, to whom she is betrothed. Esther is abducted, imprisoned in the royal harem, and eventually chosen by Xerxes as his new queen, a position which affords her the opportunity to ultimately save her people from annihilation.

Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins
John’s Story: The Last Eyewitness. Putnam Praise, 2006.
The authors of the successful “Left Behind” books begin a new Biblically-inspired series entitled “The Jesus Chronicles” which brings to life the story of Jesus, told in the voices of those who knew and loved him best: John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke. By the same authors: Mark’s Story: The Gospel According to Peter (2007).  

Thom Lemmons
Daughter of Jerusalem. Multnomah, 1999.
After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene reflects upon her past, her salvation, and the life she must now face without her Teacher. First in the “Daughters of Faith series.” Read also: Woman of Means (2000) and  Mother of Faith (2003)

David Maine
The Preservationist. St. Martin’s, 2004.
When Noah (here called Noe) orders his sons to build an ark, he can't tell them where the wood will come from. When he sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals, he can offer no directions, money, or protection. And once the rain starts, they all realize that the true test of their faith is just beginning.

Anne Rice
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Knopf, 2005.
Explores Jesus' youth, when he is not yet aware of his purpose in life, and tells of his family's journey from Egypt to Judea and of the requisite strife they encounter along the way. Followed by Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana (2008).

Alexandria Ripley
A Love Divine. Warner, 1996.
Joseph of Arimathea amasses a fortune from his love of the sea and is a friend of both King Herod and Augustus Caesar. But when his crippled daughter his healed by Christ, he finds new meaning in life and coverts to Christianity.

Walter Wangerin
Jesus. Zondervan, 2005.
The story of Jesus of Nazareth is told through the voices of his mother, Mary, and the Apostle John.. By the same author: The Book of God (1996) and Paul (2000).

Lew Wallace
Ben-Hur. Haroer & Brothers, 1959.
Former Civil War general Wallace tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur is a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem, whose friendship with Messala, commander of a Roman legion, unravels because of their political and religious differences. And when the Ben-Hurs are falsely accused of a crime Messala does nothing (even though he knows the truth) as Judah is sent to the galleys and his mother and sister thrown into prison. Judah swears to come back, find his family, and take revenge. But at crucial junctures in his life, he also crosses the path of Jesus, whose own grace amidst suffering transforms him.

Created and maintained by: Lynne M. Kennedy.

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