Esther

September 1, 2015
The book of Esther comes to life in this vivid novel based on the Old Testament tale. Esther became queen of Persia against all odds. She was born into peasantry, orphaned in childhood, kidnapped at 14 by soldiers of King Xerxes, and brought forcefully to serve in the king's harem. She catches the king's eye during their first night together, and by the following day, she is queen-despite being secretly Jewish. Kanner, whose first novel, Sinners and the Sea (2013), illustrated the life of Noah's wife, another Old Testament heroine, does a fine job describing her heroine's various struggles. We hear Esther's voice clearly, and, despite a few anachronisms, that voice is moving. Kanner embraces the erotic underpinnings of the Biblical story and includes rich descriptions of the palace harem, the other concubines, and Esther's sexual encounters with the king. Supporting characters are equally vivid: Kanner's descriptions are convincing and rich, though they don't reach very deep. Her handling of dialogue can sometimes sound too contemporary for the time period and at other times, archaic, even starchy. Esther has to hurry: the king's favored adviser, Haman, has begun urging him to decimate his land's Jewish population in order to acquire untold riches. Esther is the only one who can convince her husband to spare the Jews. Bracing as all of this is, though, it's overshadowed by an entirely fictional subplot in which Esther falls helplessly in love with the soldier Erez. Many breathless pages are devoted to their yearnings. Kanner does offer an appealing heroine: a woman who rose to the highest position her world offered and sought to leave behind an enduring, and noble, legacy. Kanner's second novel is animated but ultimately fails to leave a deep impression.

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November 1, 2015

In her reinterpretation of the biblical story of Esther, who saved the Jewish people from extermination when she became Queen of Persia, Kanner offers through one courageous woman's perspective an insider's view of the captivating but politically dangerous world of King Xerxes's harem. Like her debut novel, Sinners and the Sea, which offered a female point of view on the story of Noah's Ark, the author reinvigorates a familiar tale. [See review on p. 71.--Ed.]

READ-ALIKES FOR BOTH TITLES Anita Diamant's The Red Tent; Eva Etzioni-Halevy's The Garden of Ruth, The Song of Hannah, and The Triumph of Deborah; Rebecca Kohn's Seven Days to the Sea and The Gilded Chamber

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November 15, 2015
Kanner tells the biblical story of Esther in a chilling, immersive first-person narrative that begins on the road to Xerxes' palace, where hundreds of virgins are gathered in the search for a new queen. Secretly Jewish, Esther manages to rise to queendom amid the dangers of the harem, including abuse, threats, and even attempts at murder. When she is asked to risk her life to save her people, she realizes that her survival was meant for a higher purpose. While Kanner follows the biblical outline, she only touches on the traditional heroism of Esther's story near the end. Instead, her version focuses on Esther's personal, intimate, immediate experience as a real woman of flesh and blood, and that is what gives the book its distinctively powerful and creative insight into harem life. Kanner's vision will be frightening and revelatory for anyone who imagined that a palace harem was a place of sisterhood. A vicious lioness, a corrupt concubine hierarchy, and attacks on virgins' integrity give this religious novel a violent dimension and leaves readers with new admiration for Esther's incredible strength.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)