Hadassah

One Night with the King

By: Tommy Tenney, Mark Andrew Olsen

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author and inspirational speaker Tommy Tenney teams with Mark Andrew Olsen to deliver a mesmerizing tale of historical fiction. Favorably compared to Anita Diamant's The Red Tent for its unexpected plot twists, Hadassah is the fictional account of the Bible's Esther, the Jewish peasant girl who became queen of Persia.

"One night with the King changes everything." This is the message Esther, later known as Queen Hadassah, wrote circa 492 B.C. to one special candidate for new bride to King Xerxes. Now, in present day, another Hadassah, descendant of the bridal candidate, has been given these stories, passed down from generation to generation, of Esther's fateful time in history. It is a tale of persecution and benevolence, death and rebirth, and ultimately, an illustration of faith.

Tommy Tenney painstakingly researched the life of Esther to uncover the riveting details behind this woman's courageous ascent to the throne. Award-winning narrator Suzanne Toren immerses listeners in the captivating world of ancient Persia.

©2004 Tommy Tenney (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Esther...is a fascinating character whose story lends itself well to a fictional retelling." (Publishers Weekly)

Hadassah

I enjoyed the way the story unfolded and how it was tied to the biblical story of Esther. The imagery, description of the timeframe and and scenery or marvelous.

Beautiful History

This book was captivating and enlightening of Biblical history. Enjoyable with romance and mystery combining to be so intriguing that I didn't want to stop reading!

Hurray!

Finally! A book that really tells us girls how much our "Daddy" (Daddy = God) loves us! Thank you Tommy Tenney for being God's voice! We all need to know God's heart and how He longs to love us and this book tells us that truth.

Pssst...it is not chic lit.

A little bit of mystery. A little bit of history. A little bit of bible. A little bit of religion. A little bit of middle east. Wrap it all together and you have a good listen. Yeah, a little bit of sex too.

never gets old!

One of the BEST love stories! A girl and her king. A girl and her God ❤️

excellent read. Highly recommend

WONDERFUL BOOK. Also teaches lots of history. I love that it is from a man’s point of view.

Excellent!

Wonderful story telling of Queen Esther. Loved how this is so filled with adventure, love, and God’s love. This was told in such a vibrant and exciting way. Loved narration, Suzanne Toren is one of my favorite narrators, Highly recommend this!

A Mistake for Me

This was the first historical fiction novel I have listened too and although it was probably wonderful for some, it dragged for me. As it is based on the life of Queen Esther, the story could not be changed much to add more intrigue, so I found that the author filled up the hours with tons....and I mean tons....of descriptions. Every pillar, every wall, every floor, every garment, every piece of jewelry and not once but over and over again. Granted the story picked up about half way through, but even "The night with the king" was anticlimactic (no pun intended).
The narrator was good match for this reading. She did a very good job.
I did learn more about the Story of Esther than I knew before, that is for sure. I guess that would be the saving grace for this book. I came out knowing more than when I went in.
The beginning of the book seemed to go on forever before anything good happened. We finally got into the meat of the plot after about 4-5 hours of listening. I can't tell you how many times I almost put this audio book away, but I decided to persevere just so I could say I read it. I can tell you, that had it been a book I was actually reading and not listening to, it would have made it back to my shelf long before chapter 10 (I think there is something like 46 or so chapters).
I've read mostly glowing reviews about this book, unfortunately I can't join in with that same sentiment.

Not a Jewish outlook.

Although this book does follow the text of the book of Esther and tries to answer some missing questions, it does not appear that the authors did much research in the Jewish commentaries of the book or on the observance of Purim. I particularly disliked the continued references to the sign of the twisted cross, an obvious attempt to connect Haman with the Nazis. I also disliked calling the capital Susa instead of Susan and the mispronunciation of Vashti's name.
However, there was at least one midrash (about Haman's daughter) that was included and I did like the adding of the historical context. It was a little weird to hear about Esther and Xerxes instead of Esther and Ahasuerus, but I understand that. I also found it interesting the development of characters that are only briefly mentioned in the Megillah. (But again, the midrash that one of the characters was really Haman is ignored.)
I had hoped that this book would be appropriate for our synagogue book group, but I cannot recommend it. But it has motivated me to learn more about traditional midrashim about Esther.
Also, the comparison to "The Red Tent" falls very short because of the book's perspective.