Judah's Wife (The Silent Years): A Novel of the Maccabees

Leah, daughter of the cheesemaker has had a hard life living with a violent father.  Leah marries Judah and finds protection and care. But the land is controlled by Antiochus IV, who is descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals.  When he issues a decree that all Jews are to comply with Syrian laws, the devout Jews chance it all to follow the law of Moses.

Judah's father Mattathias decides to move his family from Jerusalem Modein to flee the punishment for defying the decree.   By defying the decree, it begins a war that will cost many their lives.  Before his death, Mattathias commands Judah to continue the war, otherwise, the Jewish lineage and their lands would be annihilated.   Leah wants peace and wrestles with her husband's decision to be the commander of the army.   Will there ever be peace?

This is the incredible chronicle of the Maccabees, told through the wife of Judah, who learns what courage and sacrifice are all about.

The author Angela Hunt has done an incredible amount of research and has produced a  powerful history lesson entwined with her own creative writing.  The author has a way of captivating the reader's attention while teaching us historical content.    I like the way the author writes her novels through the eyes of people that were actually there, teaching us history through their eyes.  

This is an excellent read, especially for those who love history.  

Below is a short history of Judah Maccabeus.

Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, also spelled Machabeus, or Maccabaeus, Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, Yehudah ha-Makabi) was a Jewish priest (kohen) and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE).

 * The book of Maccabee can be found in the Apocrypha

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