Sarah: A Heroine of the Old Testament - Softcover

Halter, Marek

Softcover

ISBN 10: 059305279X ISBN 13: 9780593052792

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2004

Synopsis

Women play a pivotal role in the Bible, yet their fates are generally summarized in just a few lines. Now Marek Halter tells the stories of three of its most important heroines: Sarah, the Sumerian aristocrat who struggled to bear a child; Zipporah, the African immigrant who begged Moses to create laws to protect the weak; and Lilah, the prophet Ezrah's sister, who fought against the mounting religious extremism of the era. Above all, it is the courage and spirit of these women that make them and their narratives uplifting and extraordinarily compelling. People may know that Abraham, the Patriarch of the Old Testament, was the first man to spread God's word. But how many know of his wife, Sarah? How she was born into a wealthy and powerful family in the Sumerian city of Ur? Or how, at the age of twelve, escaping her own wedding ceremony, she ran to the banks of the Euphrates river and into the arms of a young stranger camped on the outskirts of the city. His name was Abraham and, although he was a member of a poor nomadic tribe, their night together was enough to convince Sarah that their future lay together. And so Sarah abandoned everything - wealth, family and status - to follow Abraham and his alien God; a God of whom no one had ever heard; a God who was invisible and who appeared to communicate solely through her husband; a God who, one day, would command Abraham to kill their beloved son in his name, and to whom Sarah would beg for mercy...Set against the epic backdrop of the Sumerain cities of Ur and Babylon four thousand years ago, and in the arid wastelands of the Arabian desert, Marek Halter brings an ancient world vividly to life through the eyes of a beautiful and passionate woman.

About this title

About the Author

Marek Halter was born in Poland, the son a printer and a Yiddish poet. Narrowly escaping the Warsaw Ghetto during the Second World War, he and his parents spent time in Russia and Uzbekistan before emigrating to France. Once in Paris, he studied pantomime alongside Marcel Marceau before embarking on a career as a painter. In 1967, he founded the International Committee for a Negotiated Peace Agreement in the Middle East and played a crucial role in the organization of the first official meetings between the Palestinians and Israelis. Marek Halter speaks French, English, German, Russian and Yiddish. He is the author of several internationally acclaimed novels, and is a regular contributor to Die Welt and La Republica.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 059305279X
• ISBN 13: 9780593052792
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304