A Certain Man by Linda Dindzans

Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart

A Certain Future Series, Book 1  

One finds it difficult to believe this is a Debut Novel. Dindzans has written a mesmerizing story that immerses readers into the dangerous New Testament days when a father’s whim held more sway over whom a woman would marry than she did herself.

Readers of the Bible will note specific events in the life of Jesus and even His parables are woven into this well-written story.

Mara, the daughter of a drunkard, is only important to her father for the money he will receive from the bridegroom. Mara wants to marry her neighbor Samuel in two years when he has saved the bride-price. She’ll be fifteen then. Yet events take a terrible turn.

Dindzans’s depth of research transports readers back to Biblical days. Jewish traditions and culture enrich the storytelling.

The book is edgier than I normally read. There is violence and rape but it’s not explicitly shown. There are characters readers will love and others they definitely will not.

I could not put the book down.

I highly recommend this novel to lovers of Biblical fiction.