Brookes extrapolates a plausible explanation for this from between the lines of the Biblical account. I was impressed by the exploration of the scorn directed at the young David by his father and brothers – an issue that had always puzzled me. Except for David most of the characters’ names have traditional Jewish pronunciation rather than the more familiar English renditions: for example, Yonatan for Jonathon, Batsheva for Bathsheba.Īll the well-loved Sunday school stories are here – the fight with Goliath, David’s skill as a harpist and singer, his years as an outcast in the wilderness, his adulterous affair with Batsheva, and the triumphant reign over a now united kingdom. The Old Testament stories of King David are convincingly retold through the narrative voice of his mentor and conscience, the prophet Nathan - or Natan, as Brookes writes it. ‘The Secret Chord’ has all the elements I have come to expect from Geraldine Brookes: meticulous research, vivid characterisation and a gripping plot.
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