Of Fire and Lions by Mesu Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My favorite genre is historical fiction, in this novel Of Fire and Lions, Mesu Andrews brilliantly marries the biblical truths and historical facts with fictional characters. It's fascinating to read and see where the path the story takes. I remember the main stories of Daniel, his steadfast faith, the Lions Den, the fiery furnace, but to see them played out in a story that spans the 70 years of captivity is amazing.
I feel like I understood the biblical stories of faith all my life but this book just gave me a deeper understanding of what it really entailed.
The story starts off with Abigail/Belili, Daniel's wife, retelling the story of their capture and years of captivity in Babylon. Abigail was 9 when taken captive, she was to be the maid to four princes, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. At some point she is removed from them and changes her name from Abigail to Belili. She isn't faithful to Yahweh, and is party to living a tainted life. In the end Daniel and she are reunited and marry. She is ashamed of the things she has done and this makes for a challenging family life.
What I love is the idea I get of what it was actually like to live in this time period and match it with the biblical facts to create a fabulous story that gives me a deeper grasp of the entire story of Daniel.
I don't want to say too much as everyone should read this story for themselves versus me giving any details away, making them less exciting to read for the first time.
Biblical fiction is such a fun way to relive the bible stories you grew up with, giving you more of a grasp of details of the time period, thus giving you a better understanding of the entire picture.
I would highly recommend this book and this author!
I was given a complimentary uncorrected proof to read to facilitate this review, opinions expressed are my own.

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