TESSA AFSHAR was voted "New Author of the Year" by the Family Fiction
sponsored Reader's Choice Award 2011 for her novel Pearl in the Sand.
She was born in Iran, and lived there for the first fourteen years of
her life. She moved to England where she survived boarding school for
girls and fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, before
moving to the United States permanently. Her conversion to Christianity
in her twenties changed the course of her life forever. Tessa holds an
MDiv from Yale University where she served as co-chair of the
Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. She has spent the last
thirteen years in full-time Christian work.
Tessa can be reached through the Contact link on her Website.
The scribe Sarah married Darius, and at times she feels as if she has
married the Persian aristocracy, too. There is another point she did not
count on in her marriage-Sarah has grown to love her husband. Sarah has
wealth, property, honor, and power, but her husband's love still seems
unattainable.
Although his mother was an Israelite, Darius remains skeptical that his Jewish wife is the right choice for him, particularly when she conspires with her cousin Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Ordered to assist in the effort, the couple begins a journey to the homeland of his mother's people. Will the road filled with danger, conflict, and surprising memories, help Darius to see the hand of God at work in his life-and even in his marriage?
A hidden message, treachery, opposition, and a God-given success, will lead to an unlikely bounty.
If you'd like to read the first chapter of Harvest of Gold, go HERE.
Although his mother was an Israelite, Darius remains skeptical that his Jewish wife is the right choice for him, particularly when she conspires with her cousin Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Ordered to assist in the effort, the couple begins a journey to the homeland of his mother's people. Will the road filled with danger, conflict, and surprising memories, help Darius to see the hand of God at work in his life-and even in his marriage?
A hidden message, treachery, opposition, and a God-given success, will lead to an unlikely bounty.
If you'd like to read the first chapter of Harvest of Gold, go HERE.
My Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoy discovering a new author, especially one as talented at her craft as Tessa Afshar. Afshar is a master storyteller. Her story of Darius and Sarah will draw you in immediately and hold you there until the last page. Their story began in Harvest of Rubies. While Harvest of Gold is a continuation of their story, this book can be read as a stand alone novel. Afshar's description of her characters, the time period and the culture as well as the surroundings transport you to the time of King Artaxerxes. I loved how Afshar incorporated Nehemiah's story. The book does jump around a bit, but the timeline given at the beginning and the time reiterated at the beginning of each chapter keeps that from being confusing. Discussion questions are also included making the book easy to use in a reading group setting. You do not want to miss Afshar's gift in both Harvest of Rubies and Harvest of Gold.
Happy Reading,
Jennifer
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