The Book of Esther, Emily Barton
The Book of Esther, Emily Barton
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The Book of Esther
A Novel

Author: Emily Barton

Narrator: Rebecca Gibel

Unabridged: 15 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/22/2019

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

Eastern Europe, August 1942. The Khazar kaganate, an isolated nation of Turkic warrior Jews, lies between the Pontus Euxinus (the Black Sea) and the Khazar Sea (the Caspian). It also happens to lie between a belligerent nation to the west that the Khazars call Germania—and a city the rest of the world calls Stalingrad.

After years of Jewish refugees streaming across the border from Europa, fleeing the war, Germania launches its siege of Khazaria. Only Esther, the daughter of the nation's chief policy adviser, sees the ominous implications of Germania's disregard for Jewish lives. Only she realizes that this isn't just another war but an existential threat. After witnessing the enemy warplanes’ first foray into sovereign Khazar territory, Esther knows she must fight for her country. But as the elder daughter in a traditional home, her urgent question is how.

Before daybreak one fateful morning, she embarks on a perilous journey across the open steppe. She seeks a fabled village of Kabbalists who may hold the key to her destiny: their rumored ability to change her into a man so that she may convince her entire nation to join in the fight for its very existence against an enemy like none Khazaria has ever faced before.

About Emily Barton

Emily Barton is the author of Brookland and The Testament of Yves Gundron, which were both selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year. She has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Her essays, short stories, and reviews have appeared in Story, Conjunctions, the Massachusetts Review, Tablet, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times Book Review, among many other publications. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and sons.


Reviews

The Book of Esther is a hodgepodge of different genres: military fiction, historical fiction, religious fiction. Add to that a flavor of steampunk you've likely never tried before, blend it all up (but keep it Kosher!), and you'll approach this heavy but well-written story. It's basically World War I......more

Badass, feminist, imaginative, historical. I devoured this book. Or maybe it devoured me. Let me start by saying that this book is a lot. Barton's writing is awesome, but dense. The vast majority of the reviews I've read for this book mention "info-dumping" and the use of other languages without tra......more

The best excuse for an alternate history is that it makes a good story. One type is an improvement on history. I really wish that history had gone the way the author describes in the novel. The Book of Esther by Emily Barton is an alternate history of this type. I was intrigued by the concept and re......more

Goodreads review by Beth

I received this book through the publisher via Netgalley. This is one of those reviews where I am left with such mixed feelings that I am not sure where to start. First of all, the world. Barton has created an immersive, rich alternate history with her Jewish state that is caught in the drama of Worl......more