Name: Rebel Daughter
ISBN: 9780593125816

Lori Banov Kaufmann

In the years preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, young Esther's greatest worry is that she will be forced to marry against her will but soon, she faces famine, seige, and slavery.

Rebel Daughter

Nikki Sojkowski

**I was given an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Rebel Daughter starts off strong with heartfelt characters and careful attention to historical detail. It really felt like I’d been visiting 1st century Jerusalem every time I picked up this book! The best part is that all the details felt natural, time-traveling descriptions never bogged down the plot or emotional depth of scenes. The story is of Esther, the daughter of a priest, worries for her marriage prospects and for her family as tensions erupt in her home between the Jewish people and their Roman conquerors. As war erupts, Esther struggles not only to keep it together but also to keep her family together. A story where people and friendships are not as they seem, Rebel Daughter bears witness to all the strong women who have shaped and desperately survived history.

My only critique is that there a couple jarring time-jumps. One between chapters is excusable and between chapters can be a murky passage of time, but the one that happens between mere paragraphs not demarcated in any way ruined the immersion for me. It took several pages to re-adjust back to the plot. I realize that the time jumps probably fit with a historical timeline, but it could have been padded or headlined for a smoother flow of the story.

Katerina Thorson

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4/5

This book was a hard one to determine what rating I wanted to give it because I loved it so fricken much but a few things just threw me off slightly. I think most of my night was calculating out if this a 4 star read, a 4.5 star read, or should I just give it 5 stars. 

Kaufmann captures a haunting tale of a young girl in her fight for her family, her life, and her freedom during the rebellion between the Jewish and the Romans. She weaves a tale of what could have been and what did happen during this horrific time. 

When it comes to books like this I find it hard to put into words what I am thinking and going through. Especially when this book parallels quite a bit of what is happening right now in this world. When I finished Rebel Daughter a random thought came to mind. When I was in University, I had a history professor and he made the comment "We study history so that we can learn from our ancestors mistakes." At the time I thought that could be true. However, after reading this and looking at the world around us it's hard to imagine we ever learned from the past mistakes. 

So getting down to it. What did I love about this book:
1. Kaufmann did extensive historical checks, research, and look overs when it came to writing this book. 
- There are a few books out there that are labeled "Historical fiction" and even some just labeled as "true story" and actually had no extensive research and a lot of their historical points are inaccurate or don't match up to what historians say. (I will not name the books). 

2. The Authors Note and the Historical section at the end of the book. 
- I think this was absolutely amazing and it's the only time I have EVER read an Authors Note before. I definitely recommend you read it because she talks about her process, the historians, the parts that are real, and the parts she had to take liberty with. 

3. How detailed every scene was. 
Kaufmann did not spare us on any detail. From the smells of the plaza to the horrific slaughter and blood bath in the streets. You get a true image of the world going on around Esther. With this type of book, I think it was so important to capture detail. 

4. How it captures the reality of how woman are treated and still are treated. 
So many scenes in Rebel Daughter capture Esther as a young girl coming of age in this ancient time. From her first bleed and it's views of impurity to an arranged marriage she wants nothing to do with but must. Her mother also has very little care for a daughter because in the eyes of a mother than a daughter is truly another mouth to feed. A daughter can't bring home money, or trades, or truly work. The only thing a daughter is good for is selling off to get more profit. It made me grateful for being born in this era where I at least have the opportunity to choose a husband and choose my job (even if there still in inequality).

Esther's mother makes a comment that is seen through many ages and it's about how "love" comes later in a marriage. First it's a transaction, then it's mutuality and obedience, and maybe if you are lucky then comes the love.

Now what I didn't quite like about the book:
1. The lack of character development. 
This is still fiction and I was hoping for more character development with Esther. It was there but just in small doses. Yes she acted like a young girl when she could and she grew into a woman who was strong but it felt choppy at parts or forced. 

2. The title of the book.
Just like another reviewer pointed out, I am not 100% in agreeance with the title. Esther was not a rebel. She did not join the fight against the Romans. Maybe the Romans viewed all Jewish individuals as "rebels" but in the case of the POV from Esther she was not a rebel. 

3. The weird development of the romance. 
I think this was what determined my rating of the book in the end. The reason why this book was written was because on a first-century tombstone it depicted a man (Tiberius) begging for his wife to be cared for. The whole reason was to tell a love-story and it felt like it was missing. I understand why Esther hated him to begin with, that made sense he was a Roman she was Jewish. But because of that the actual love or her idea of love didn't happen until literally the last 10 pages. So it felt like an insta-love but only because of how it was written. 

I really enjoyed this for what it was and it was very well researched so that gave this book even more brownie points. I guess just expected a little bit more on certain parts of the book. Like the love story that  Rebel Daughter was supposed to be depicting but fell flat.

Rebel Daughter

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