MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH by Ariana Frankllin

FIC

FRANKLIN
A serial child murderer is on the loose in 12th-century Cambridge and suspicion has fallen on the local Jewish population. King Henry II wants to find the killer (and needs the Jewish tax revenues). He sends for a medical examiner, or master of the art of death, from one of the most advanced medical schools of the time, the University of Salerno. What he gets is a “mistress of the art of death” in the form of young Dr. Adelia Aguilar who must do her work in secret because of the English prejudice against female doctors. The mystery is entertaining but perhaps more interesting are the many historical details of life in this distant time.

THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant

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DIAMANT

Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, tells the story of her father, his relationships with her mother, Leah, and his three other wives, all Leah's sisters, Dinah herself, and her many brothers. Her tale, told from the viewpoint of the women involved, is a good deal more detailed and believable than that told long after by men in the Hebrew Bible. After her marriage to an Egyptian and his betrayal at the hands of her hateful brothers and treacherous father, Dinah's story takes her and her readers to Egypt, where she comes to happiness and , in full circle, to her brother Joseph, now a man of power.

While some more conservative readers might disapprove of Dinah's version of events, since it departs in points from the Biblical story, most women familiar with the original will find Dinah's recounting closer to real life and considerably more interesting. They will quickly understand why The Red Tent became a bestseller.