A Marvelous Light: A Tale of the Lad Who Led Samson

by Alicia G. Ruggieri, Elisabeth Grothjan (Illustrator)

A mistreated slave in Dagon’s temple, young Ahkish cries out daily to his god for mercy – mercy which Dagon refuses to give. Yet, when the high priest determines to punish Ahkish by assigning him to care for the imprisoned blind Fool, the lad finds One who longs to give mercy and grace – even to a Philistine slave boy. Discover wideness of Yahweh’s compassion and love anew in this biblically-sound, historically-accurate family read-aloud set in the land of Canaan during the time of the judges. This edition includes unique black-and-white illustrations by Elisabeth Grothjan.

43 pages, Paperback

Published April 12, 2021

About the author

Alicia G. Ruggieri grew up breathing in the salty air of coastal New England. She now writes grace-filled, Christ-centered fiction from her home in Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and sweet second-hand mutt. She loves old graveyards, dusty libraries, and excellent cannolis ~ not necessarily in that order.

To learn more about Alicia’s books and to connect with her, visit: www.aliciagruggieri.com and www.facebook/AliciaGRuggieri.

Reviews

[Cassie Hanudel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this author and enjoyed this aloud to my children. It reminded me a bit of the book the Bronze Bow, where we experience a familiar character from the Bible through the eyes of a child. In this case it was a Philistine slave boy who attended Samson after his capture by the Philistines. The author chose to use historically accurate names like "Shimshon" and "P'lishti" which I appreciated but my children were confused. Since it's a book written for children I think modifying the language for them to read/understand would have made sense.