"A Light on the Hill" by Connilyn Cossette

[reviewsbyerin]

 

In recent years I’ve heard great things about Connilyn Cossette’s Biblical fiction, and she was on my list of authors I hoped to try in 2019. I was thrilled to pick up this first book in her Cities of Refuge series, and it did not disappoint.

Our story opens with Moriyah, an Israelite woman who lives a fairly solitary life due to an event in the past having left her face with a horrible scar. Moriyah wears a veil whenever she is in public and mostly keeps to herself. Now that her father is getting older he has decided it’s time to find a husband for Moriyah, and she will need to be brave and vulnerable in building the relationship.

Things quickly become complicated when she meets the man who has agreed to the betrothal, and furthermore when an accident claims the lives of two young boys.

This book’s setting is fascinating. Not just the focus on the Cities of Refuge, but the look at how things might have been for Israel under the leadership of Joshua as the tribes went in to conquer the Promised Land. This book is post-Jericho but before the Israelites were fully settled in Canaan.

Although this was the first book in a new series, it frequently referenced people and events from Cossette’s previous series. I did not have trouble following along, but I feel it might be even more enjoyable if you have read her Out From Egypt books. Overall I’d recommend this for anyone who enjoys Biblical fiction, and look forward to reading more from this author myself.