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Esther

Norah Lofts

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Aug 13, 2022 Werner rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Whether they're observant or not, most members of the worldwide Jewish community are familiar with the holiday Purim, commemorating the 5th-century B.C. deliverance, as a result of the courageous intervention by Queen Esther, of the Persian Empire's Jewish population from a genocide planned by the king's vizier, Haman. The historical background of this is recounted in the Old Testament book of Esther, written by an anonymous author probably not long after the events, so is also familiar to Chris Whether they're observant or not, most members of the worldwide Jewish community are familiar with the holiday Purim, commemorating the 5th-century B.C. deliverance, as a result of the courageous intervention by Queen Esther, of the Persian Empire's Jewish population from a genocide planned by the king's vizier, Haman. The historical background of this is recounted in the Old Testament book of Esther, written by an anonymous author probably not long after the events, so is also familiar to Christians versed in the Bible. First published in 1950, this novella by British historical fiction writer Norah Lofts is a fictionalized re-telling of the key parts of the Biblical story. Since in the light of ancient practices, we can infer that Esther was, at the time, in her teens --this was her first (and as far as we know, only) marriage, and she hadn't been married very long-- the author and publisher marketed the book to teens. However, there's nothing inherently "kiddish" about the storyline or treatment here; it can appeal to historical genre fans of any age.

At just 141 pages of actual text, this is a relatively quick read. It's not, however, a superficial one. On the contrary, it has a considerable degree of psychological depth. While the sequence of outward historical events is often reasonably well-documented, it's often difficult or impossible for a nonfiction historian to attempt to reconstruct the inner psychology and character of the people involved. This is where the fictional, interpretive element of historical fiction comes in, with its imaginative reconstruction of behind-the-scenes conversations and ability to get inside the character's heads. As she does in Crown of Aloes, Lofts (who's a longstanding favorite author of mine) excels at this kind of thing. All five main characters are very well developed, and she fleshes out the events of the biblical story in such a way that the underlying psychology is entirely understandable and realistic at every stage. The treatment of the biblical material here, like that in How Far to Bethlehem?, is respectful; Christian and Jewish readers will find the novel faith-friendly. (While far from ascetic, and not wearing her faith on her sleeve, Lofts herself was an Anglican Christian who took the spiritual side of life seriously.) She crafts her plot here impeccably; re-telling the whole Old Testament book would have been anti-climactic, but she quits here on the perfect ending.

Nits, of course, can be picked here with regard to historical accuracy. Lofts was a secondary school history teacher before becoming a writer; but her knowledge of history was primarily of European (and especially British) history, not that of the ancient Near East, and she normally wrote about the former, not the latter. That shows here. Her most glaring error is confusing Esther's actual husband, Xerxes (that name is Greek; he's called by his Persian name, Ahasuerus, in the Bible) with his son and successor, Artaxerxes I, whose name is consistently used here. She assumes that the Jews were still forbidden to return to Judea at this time, but the Babylonian Captivity had ended with the decree of the first Persian king, Cyrus, in the preceding century; Jews still living in the eastern parts of the empire did so from choice. Given the sexism of that day, it's unlikely that Esther would have been taught to read; and "Jehovah" is not a real divine name that Jews in any era ever used (it's actually a mistranslation of "Yahweh" that first appeared in the early English-language Bibles). Other quibbles could be listed, but these can suffice for review purposes.

However, none of these inaccuracies kept me from really enjoying the book. Accuracy is obviously a plus in historical fiction; but it's not the only factor that can contribute to the appeal of a storyline! ...more

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