Pharoah's Daughter

by Julius Lester

Middle Grade Historical Fiction retelling of the story of Moses in Egypt

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Egypt, Fiction, Historical, Childrens, Teen

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Julius Lester was an American writer of books for children and adults. He was an academic who taught for 32 years (1971–2003) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was also a photographer, as well as a musician who recorded two albums of folk music and original songs.

Reviews

[Asenath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story about Moses. Made Moses' birth mom the bad guy. Invented sibling of Moses who converted to Egyptian ways. Actual writing wasn't bad, but the ideas and proposed theology made me uncomfortable.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I take issue with Lester's assertion in his "Author's Note" section that the book of Exodus is not historically accurate. And as a Jew, Lester's assertion is puzzling. What is it that he does not understand about "divine inspiration?" God wrote the books of the Torah through the hand of Moses, inspiring him what to write down. So, the book of Exodus shows us how God felt about the Khemtians (Egyptians) and their treatment of his chosen people.
Apart from this, the novel was interesting, with Lester inventing new members of Moses' Hebrew family. He gives Moses an identity crisis which is not very evident in scripture, and creates for him an older sister (not Miryam) who rebels against Ya (short for Yahweh) and her family, and becomes a priestess in Khemet (Egypt). The first part of the book is told from the sister's (Almah) point of view, and the second half is told from Moses' point of view, ending with his escape from Khemet, after murdering a Khemetian man.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting (re)telling of the beginning of Moses´ story.

[Joana · Rating 5 out of 5]

So basically, this is about a Habiru girl named Almah who goes to live in the palace with the princess to take care of her little brother, Mosis. The princess is keeping Mosis because she thinks the goddess gave him to her and she also wants to save him from having the soldiers kill him. The pharaoh was ordering the soldiers to kill Habiru babies.

[Degenerate Chemist · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this little novella. This book is meant to be entertaining brain fluff and it does its job well.

"Pharoh's Daughter" is about Moses, his Egyptian family, his Hebrew family, and the pull of his multicultural upbringing. The novella is split into two books, one from Moses' sister Almah's POV and the second from Moses POV. Almah's story focuses on her rejection of her Hebrew heritage and embracing Egyptian culture. Moses story focuses on his conflict between choosing between his dual inheritances.

[Christie Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this story. I like that it takes a piece of history and considers it from both sides of the story, which is a mindset that I think people today could use more of. It raises questions that you'll have to answer yourself.

This book looks like a YA, but it's definitely going on my adult shelf at home, mostly for the nudity.

[●tk● · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty simple yet good read. I like Mosis’s thought process and just mainly how the characters act throughout the story. Pretty interesting tbh :))

Rating: 4.23 ⭐️

[Pandora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julius Lester tells the story of Moses from the viewpoint of an older unknow sister who saves him from the Pharaoh's soilder. Lester got the idea that Moses might have had a second sister becasue the traditional texts don't state that it is Miriam that put Moses in the basket. This sister will become Egyptian which is why she will be exculded from the Bibical account. The second part of the book is from Moses viewpoint as he struggles with his divided idenity of being Hebrew and Egyptian and at the same time neither. The story goes up to the time Moses has to flee Egypt because of the murder he commits.

A good story with a new take on the ancient story. Lester tries to be balance with his take on Egypt and the Hebrew showing that neither side is all right or all wrong. This is why he inivited an unknow sister to show a balance view of Egypt as she finds in the Egyptian religon a connection she was unable to find in the Jewish religon. A concern is that the book does have the older sister dance naked which is how things were done apparently in ancient Egypt.

A well thought out story although some people probably won't be happy with the directiion Lester took. He does try to show a human Moses and not the Charlton Heston myth. Lester is also realistic in that Moses couldn't get to the throne but, suggest he could have had an important postion within the court. Moses adopted Mother also shows up well as she becomes more inclinded to follow the Hebrew ways. This switching of idenity is probably influence by Lester's own switch to Judism from Christainty.

I liked the book but, I only gave it three stars because it didn't wow me. It is a good story though once I got past my assumption that the older sister should have been Miriam. Worth reading but, as I said it wasn't a story that gripped me. Others might have a different reaction to it. I'm also concern that some people will be offened by the older sister "pagen" ways.

[Sequoyah Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

a.What dates did you read the novel?
I started reading this novel about the third week of school and I finished the book on September 10, 2015.

b. What do you think the overall theme, or universal message, of the novel is? Why?
I think that the universal message of this novel is about identity and finding your true self. Pharaoh's Daughter was about a Haribu(Hebrew) girl, named Almah who feels that she doesn't belong in her family and doesn't understand her religion. When the pharaoh's daughter saved Mosis, Almah's brother from being killed, she adopted him and raised him in the Pharaoh's palace. The princess raised Mosis as her son and Almah moved into the palace to help with her brother. Almah was born a Haribu but she didn't feel Haribu deep down inside she wanted to have the characteristics and luxuries of the princess. The princess was Egyptian and Almah loved the lifestyle of Egyptians and decided to leave her Haribu culture behind. Almah's mother, Ima disowned her because she wanted to be Egyptian and she believed in the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Almah didn't care about what Ima wanted Almah always wanted to be Egyptian because that was her true identity.


c. Choose a significant quote from the novel and describe its significance.
The quote “Just because you're born to someone, it doesn't mean you belong to them”, was significant in the book because it represents how Almah was born Haribu and grew up learning about the Haribu people and their God, Ya, but she dreaded being a Haribu and felt like she wasn't born to be Haribu and serve Ya.

d. Would you recommend this novel to others? Why or why not?
I would recommend this novel to others because it lets people know that everyone isn't born to be like others in their family. People have to find their true identity, even if their family members don't approve. This book would show others how people have to find themselves, in order to live their own life and be happy.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

So...this was okay. It was decently written, well researched, and honestly wasn't too bad. But overall, I was just "meh" about it. I couldn't quite get absorbed.

The voices were clear, which I always like. But I was frustrated that we changed POV characters halfway through. It was jarring. And this book was called "Pharoah's Daughter," not "Pharoah's Grandson," but half the book focused on Moses (Mosis) instead of Almah or Batya. (And honestly, the daughter in question could have referred to either of these two young women.) It felt like the story didn't have a clear enough direction or characterization, and it really could have! The characters started strong, and should only have gotten stronger. I felt they stagnated early and weren't quite fleshed-out. Motivations were unclear and the final climactic plot-point just seemed to come out of nowhere.

We got a lot of fantastic in-depth descriptions of life and culture in Ancient Egypt -- particularly with regard to the life of the royalty. They were quite vivid and compelling, but at the same time, I felt that the author was more interested in describing the culture and the surroundings, and showing off his research, than he was in telling the story. Clear setting is fantastic, but you can't give up the story in favor of description. I felt that Lester was very excited about the PLACE itself, and the plot was almost irrelevant -- the Moses story seemed varnished on as a convenience for the setting. The balance was off. If the story had been as well envisioned as the place, it would have been a much more enticing novel.

The entire story also felt much more like a set-up, rather than a story unto itself. We didn't seem to get into REAL plot, it all seemed like back-story and prologue.

Still, it was a quick easy read, and didn't make me want to throw things. :-)

[Dawn]

Dawn States
Historical Fiction

This historical fiction book takes place centuries ago in ancient Egypt during the time of Pharaohs and the building of the temples by the Hebrew people. It is a retelling of the story of Moses, and puts more depth in this story we all thought we knew. The book is easy to relate to, as one thing that does not change over time is human nature. We still have the same emotions of love, fear, longing, and becoming, today as people did then.
Almah is a Hebrew girl who is much different than the other girls in her village. First, she is not scared of anything. Second, she can speak the language of the Egyptian people. For this the people in her village treat her differently. These things actually save her young brother from disaster when the Egyptians try to kill every baby male in her village. The Pharaohs own daughter adopts her young brother as if he was hers. She names him Thutmosis, or as we know Moses. Things change quickly as Almah and Moses try to find their new place in the court of the Egyptians. Moses especially struggles with knowing his place, caught as he is between the Hebrew and Egyptian cultures and beliefs. Which one will he eventually choose?

[cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

the plot in this book is Almah and her family with the other hebrew people. But she speaks the language of the Pharaoh and the other hebrew people. Don't like it becuase they feel like she thinks shes better than them. But Almah and her family they to save her new born brother. Becuase the Pharaoh just made a order that every new born boy must be killed.

I can connect to what Almah is doing becuase if i had a brother i would do the same thing. To try and save his life, from what the Pharaoh wants. Also i can connect to how breave Almah is to not care about what everyone is saying about her. And how is doesn't have any hebrew friends but it doesn't bother her. And i think that is really good becuase all she is caring about is school and her family.

i gave this book 4 out of 5 stars becuase it was a good book. You don't want to stop reading it becuase so much stuff. Goes on in is book that sometimes you have to go back. So you can remember what just happen but beside that this book is good. And you get to read a story about how ancient Egypt was.

[Juke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it. For most of the book, it ended up having Moses' adopted sister (Moses being adopted) as the center of it. It has some inappropriate and disturbing, messed-up parts with Moses' adopted sister being trashy and sinful throughout the book, being sexually inappropriate. It doesn't go into detail, and it's not anything like an MA-17 TV rating, but the author should definitely know better. It's disgusting. The same character ends up wanting to possibly marry her brother, which was more common back then, but it's disturbing. What's the most disturbing is the character that does it. I didn't like the ending very much, because it left a big thing still poorly-closed. You never find out what happens to a major character of the book. The book is scholarly historically accurate, which is the only reason I'm giving it 2 stars, but, other than that, and how they displayed Moses personality so well, I would've given it 1 1/2 stars if I could.

[Uri Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pharaoh's Daughter is a young adult novel by Julius Lester (2000). The premise of this modern midrash is that when baby Moshe (called Mosis here) was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-10), the baby's unnamed sister was not Miriam but another sister, who doesn't appear in the Torah's list of Moshe's relatives because she ended up staying in Egypt. The Torah here refers to the sister as "ha-almah" (the girl), so Lester names her Almah. The first half of the book is narrated by Almah, and the second half is narrated fifteen years later by Mosis. He has grown up in the palace of Grandfather (Pharaoh Rameses II), and has been raised by three mothers. Yes, it's complicated:

(1) Ima is Yocheved, his birth mother. She is Habiru (Hebrew) and hates the Khemetians (Egyptians).
(2) Mother is Batya, his adoptive mother. She is Pharaoh's daughter but has embraced the religion of the Habiru to worship Ya (Hashem) exclusively.
(3) Almah is Mosis's oldest sister, who has helped raise him. Moving in the opposite direction of Batya, she has embraced Khemetian religion to become a priestess of the goddesses (!).

Not surprisingly, Mosis has an identity crisis – is he Habiru or Khemetian? The book's second half revolves around the violent incident that forces him to flee Egypt (Exodus 2:11-15). I'm leaving out the details, but I'll just mention that Kakemour (whom Mosis kills) is an important supporting character in the book, as is Asetnefret (Pharaoh's wife, who hates the Habiru and pressures Pharaoh to be tough on them).

Lester, who died in 2018, was a black professor of Afro-American studies for many years at UMass Amherst. Among other things, he wrote lots of books and converted to (liberal) Judaism. He explains in the Author's Note that he wanted to portray the relationship of the Egyptians and Hebrews as more complex than the way it's presented in the Torah, in light of what (we think) we know about ancient Egypt.

I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but I thought this book was well done. And it gets points for being relatively short – even with the glossary, it's only 180 pages.

[Pindar's Muse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lester's retelling of the Moses (here Mosis) story (or part of it) that partly follows the narrative of Almah, Moses' older sister, and his subsequent upbringing under partial Pharaonic care. The author's version of events greatly differs from what most people are familiar with. It may work for some readers, but not for others. Moses is essentially brought up by three "mothers," which renders things a bit confusing, especially when the roles of the two main female characters change (as do their names), and he often refers to his birth mother and adopted mother as 'mother.' Almah essentially becomes an Egyptian while the Princess assumes Hebrew customs (we're never explicitly told why). With such a confusing upbringing, it's no wonder teenage Moses feels constantly conflicted about his own identity.

Another big distraction was how the narration switches halfway through the book. Almah is the first narrator; Moses the second. It's one of those books that suddenly jumps years into the future in the second portion of the book.

Lester has a good handle on bringing the ancient world to life, although the retelling falls somewhat flat and not everything is explained well. Worth a go if you have a few days to spare.

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a biblical or even theologically sound piece of historical fiction.

That being said, it was very entertaining and full of interesting characters that went against preconceived notions and expectations.

I was a bit surprised that the same author who wrote To Be a Slave and Day of Tears cut the Egyptians quite a bit of slack regarding their practice of slavery. Perhaps I should confuse a character with the author, except that Lester confirms in his author's note that one of the main characters, Almah, is very similar to him.

Lester did a great job of capturing the time period and Egyptian culture, but not a great job at capturing the message of the biblical story of Moses.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the ATY 2019 Reading Challenge Week 15: A Mediterranean country

Ah, the intrigues of life in the sacred halls of power...any sacred halls, but these happen to be those of an Egyptian pharaoh. Life is especially dicey if you are a young man named Mosis and your grandfather's wife-to-be hates the Habiru, the people of your birth. Deceit and betrayal characterize much of the book, as well as, a struggle to discover who you really are. Almah, Mosis's sister finds her place, as does his adoptive mother, but at 15 what's a boy to do?

If you are looking for a religiously acceptable interpretation of the Biblical story of Moses, according to other reviewers, this is not it. It IS a historical fiction.

[Lela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very interesting and was so unique. This book was meant to be an interpretation from the bible. I haven't read the bible but this made a lot of sense, the book was written amazingly and it really educated me about this topic. I didn't have any expectations for this book but it was interesting from the start.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I read it as a class read aloud and immediately fell in love with it. You can easily connect with the characters and every chapter ends in a cliffhanger. The ending rocks and is so sweet. Every uncertainty you might have while reading the book goes away at the end when all knots are tied and your heart melts. Definitely recommend this!

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for people who are interested in ancient civilizations and about the way royalty lived long ago. This book does have death so I recommend you do not read this if you don't like that. But I think overall, this book is really good if you like to see multiple perspectives because it's told from first person with two different people.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gave me and in-between feeling. It was fantastic and made me want to keep reading but at the same time I felt like the author could of toned things down a little. However- the author also did a terrific job of explaining the Egyptian culture.

[R.M. Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tough to get through, but kind of worth it for the depth of feeling it carried.

[Haley Bartling · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was about ancient egypt . when moses was around

[gabe18violin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stellar!

[Rebecca Heywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting perspective of Moses and his time with pharaoh before becoming the “famous Moses”

[Beth Slucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What if Moses had a sister older than Miriam named Almah?” muses the author, thus starting the book with 12-year-old Almah’s POV. Part 2 is from 15-year-old Moses’ POV.

[Christina Roe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like historical fiction but this one was too far removed from the facts to be enjoyable.

[Peggy Lesko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this different viewpoint of the life of Mosis from the Egyptian standpoint. The author’s note was enlightening. I appreciate the historical basis of this book

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly wonderful read, very engrossing, easy to follow, very good scene-setting without being overly descriptive.

[Shayshkers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was an odd duck. It was strange. And not like cool strange, but "....huh" strange. 1.5 stars.