Hadassah: One Night with the King

Hadassah: One Night with the King is a novel written by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen about the Biblical story of Esther. Esther, or Hadassah in Hebrew, is a Jewish girl who is orphaned and taken into the care of her cousin Mordecai. They live during the time of the exile, in the citadel of Susa, Persia, known in the modern day as Iraq. The king at that time, King Xerxes, banishes his queen, Vashti, and winds up holding a pageant to find himself a new bride. Hadassah is taken into the royal harem for beauty treatments before she and the hundreds of other girls are presented before the king, for him to choose which one would become the new Queen of Persia. The authors have done an excellent job of setting the scene for this time in history, starting the story with a contemporary lady named Hadassah who receives a letter passed down her family for generations, from an ancestor named Esther. The writing succeeds in making the story come alive in the imaginations of its readers.

Hadassah: One Night with the King Review:

The almost seventy readers who gave their feedback on this Christian book gave it an average rating of 4.4 stars.

The readers loved the writing style, especially for its succeeding in presenting horrific sceneries without overwhelming the reader with the tragedy, particularly regarding Esther’s childhood. Some even commented on violent and sexual scenes having been written perfectly so as not to be offensive to evangelical Christians. The reviewers agreed that the authors had succeeded in bringing Esther’s story to life, complete with a look at political conspiracies alongside deep-heart encounters. One reviewer described the book as a “great piece of historical fiction,” that caused her to be gripped by the whole story. It was also found to contain all the elements of a gripping novel: romance, suspense, adventure, and even irony. Another reader described it as a refreshing take on the story of Esther without compromising Biblical truth. She especially liked how the presence of the enemy was linked to several years earlier with King Saul’s disobedience of wiping out the whole of the Amalekites.

One reader who loved the book did point out a few errors, although they were very minor: for example, he felt that having the Persians serve potatoes was not exactly accurate, as potatoes were reportedly introduced into the area after the Spaniards found Incas eating the starchy food. Still, he was very satisfied with the book anyway. Strangely, there was one buyer who gave the book a 2.0-star rating only on the virtue that he was unable to comment on it, since he bought the book to give to a friend abroad. This was of course unfair for the overall rating of the book.

Overall, we believe you will find this Christian book to be an interesting read, whether for entertainment purposes or for getting a richer insight into the Bible story of Esther. We would definitely highly recommend this book for you.