Play Book Tag discussion

The Dovekeepers is a historical fiction novel that tells the story of the Siege of Masada. According to Hoffman’s principal source, Josephus’ first-century "The Jewish War", two women and five children survived the mass suicide and told the Romans the Masada story. Otherwise the heroic massacre would have been lost to history.

There are four women narrators. The first, Yael, is an assassin’s daughter and sister of a lieutenant of Masada’s leader, Eleazar Ben-Ya’ir. She takes us from Jerusalem through her traumatic desert trek, ending at Masada.

Next is Revka's story. She is the grandmother of two young boys who went mute when they saw their mother murdered by Roman soldiers. She teaches Yael the work of Masada’s dovecotes, which supply food for the Sicarii, the violent extremist Zealot splinter group.

The third narrator, Aziza, is a girl raised as a boy warrior. She works by day in the dovecotes and by night joins Sicarii raids against the Romans in the desert below. She poses as a rebel who struggles to take her young brother’s place in battle.

The fourth narrator, also a dovekeeper, is Shirah, trained by Egyptian priestesses to be a faith healer and reader of omens.

The Dovekeepers is a gripping story of first-century holy war and provides abundant ground for exploring the challenges of women’s lives, feminist themes, especially ancient and modern expressions of witchcraft.

The Dovekeepers is based on a fascinating true chapter in our history books that will appeal to fans of ancient history, faith and mysticism.

Can you see why I loved this one? This is often the title I give, when people ask me what my favorite book of all time was. There’s something about this that has stayed with me for forever.