reviewsbyerin

If you enjoy Biblical fiction, you might enjoy stepping back to the early days of the Old Testament, with Mesu Andrews' Love Amid the Ashes. We open with Jacob's disgraced daughter Dinah, two decades after the events at Shechem. She's spent the years tending her grandfather Isaac. At the patriarch's death, she is betrothed to a man she's never met—the son of Job of Uz.

Yes, the same Job who has his own book of the Bible! Job and Dinah head to Uz with his caravan, bonding along the way. They arrive at the famed city on the same day that Job's sorrows befall him, immediately leaving Dinah stranded in a strange land with no one except her Cushite maid. When boils overtake Job's body, Dinah becomes his caregiver.

Job doesn't understand why God has stricken him. He's been a faithful and just man. He's honored El Shaddai to the best of his knowledge. Now his prosperity has been reduced to nothing and he's lost his children and his health. Who can he find to marry Dinah so she won't sink into the misery that has come upon him?

There were parts of this story that were quite interesting and thought-provoking. I've done some research about why the author brought these two timelines together, and it's not without precedent, though it goes against the Biblical timeline as I was taught it. It also throws in quite a few other Bible characters and events that made me tilt my head.

Probably my biggest question about this story was why the author chose to make Job's suffering so much worse than it was in the Bible account. Was it to bring home the depth of the loss, since we're already familiar with the tale? The evil neighbor and the idol worship of Job's wife did not make the story better for me. Also I wondered how all these people could live in the same valley, close enough to see into each other's palaces and observe all their comings and goings. That was too much of a stretch for my imagination.

Overall, my favorite characters in this novel were the fictional ones, and this definitely brought the story to life in a new way. If it sounds intriguing, you should check it out.

The audiobook was well-read by Lisa Larsen. She did a wonderful job on the various voices, and her pronunciation and word flow was excellent. I would enjoy listening to more of her narration in the future.