For Such A Time

I love it when authors can take an exceptional story from the Bible and breath new life into it and cause us to reflect on the parallels between the two circumstances. In the story of Esther from the Bible, we know of Esther, a niece of Mordecai, that was taken into the King's palace in an effort to find his favor in a search for a new wife. While Esther was in the palace, a man named Haman began to plot for the destruction of the Jewish people, whom Esther and Mordecai were both of the Jewish race. But God had other plans for Esther and she was born for such a time as this to save her people.

In the novel from author Kate Breslin, she opens each chapter with a verse from the book of Esther that correlates to the particular party of the story involving a woman named Hadassah, whose untold beauty would also be her saving grace. Her uncle Morty, secures her false papers that identify her as Stella Mueller, a woman of Austrian descent instead of her Jewish background in light of the capture of Jewish citizens from the Nazi's and taken to concentration camps. Only they become separated and Morty can only hope that he has found a way to save her life and in time through visions given to him from God, she will be their salvation.

But when Stella winds up in a concentration camp along with her daughter Anna, she is labeled and tattooed as a Jew. When she learns she is about to face a firing squad, she boldly takes the hand of her daughter and faces whatever fate has in store for them. Only her daughter is the first to die in order to see if they can break Stella's resolve, but thankfully God intervenes and sends a savior in the form of the Nazi Jew Killer, SS Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt. He runs a transit camp of Theresienstady in Czechoslovakia, and he believes he can offer her some respite and a way to freedom.  This is a retelling of the biblical story of Esther through the eyes of the Jewish Holocaust and one that was exceptionally well written.

I received For Such A Time by Kate Breslin compliments of TLC Book Tours and Bethany House Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions are strictly my own. I absolutely was captivated heart, mind and soul by this novel. It takes the reader into the heart of being a Jew and trying to find a way to exist in the midst of the horror from the past, where citizens were treated worse than animals and had to find a way to make it just through one day and hope life would be there tomorrow. Their future was always uncertain and especially for women, it was a brutal life among the Nazi's. I love how well Kate paralleled the story of Esther alongside this one but kept them separate in that the stories don't concede like you think they will if you know how Esther turns out and that's what makes it unique and completely unforgettable. Hands down a 5 out of 5 stars and what a way to begin her writing career with this debut novel!

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For Such A Time by Kate Breslin

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