4½. I have changed my rating for this book three times so far. I was fascinated by this story but I couldn't quite get to five stars.

In 70 AD nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain outside the Judean desert, Masada. (taken from the book blurb). The Dovekeepers is a fiction using this event as a base. The style reminds me of Geraldine Brooks and is as good as the books she has written.

During the first part of the book I struggled with the social and religious inequality of the women. I realised that I had to get over this because that was the way it was. From that point the story captivated me. The overall ending is a historical fact so there must have been difficult to write a story with an element of suspense. Hoffman managed to maintain a gripping story while the book moved towards it inevitable conclusion.

I knew nothing about the siege at Masada so this was a refreshingly new piece of history for me.