The Prophetess by Jill Eileen Smith is book two in the Daughters of the Promised Land series.  Book one is The Crimson Cord which I reviewed a few months ago. This series doesn’t have to be read in order. Each book is its own stand alone story that focuses on different women from the Bible. These books are Christian historical fiction and if you believe the Bible, then these books are based on women that actually existed. I love Smith’s books for the most part with my favorite being her series about David’s wives but this series is very good as well. I’ll tell you the synopsis and then my thoughts. This review will be spoiler free.

Synopsis

Outspoken and fearless, Deborah has faith in God but struggles to see the potential her own life holds. As an Israelite woman, she’ll marry, have a family, and seek to teach her children about Adonai–and those tasks seem to be more than enough to occupy her time. But God has another plan for her. Israel has been under the near constant terror of Canaan’s armies for twenty years, and now God has called Deborah to deliver her people from this oppression. Will her family understand? Will her people even believe God’s calling on her life? And can the menace of Canaan be stopped?

My Thoughts

I enjoyed Deborah’s story just as much as I did Rahab’s in The Crimson Cord. Again Smith has taken a woman from the Bible that not much is known about and fleshed her out into a fully relatable person and not just a perfect prophetess. All that is known about Deborah can be found in the Bible in the book of Judges, chapters four and five. This means that Smith had to add a lot to Deborah’s story to create a full book but what she used from the Bible is accurate, as always. I also really liked all of the other characters in the story from Deborah’s children to even the “villain”, Sisera. I thought the ending of the book was fitting and wrapped up everything nicely.

If you enjoy Christian historical fiction or just historical fiction I recommend this book and series. Again, you don’t have to read these in order for them to make sense. If you’ve read anything by her, what’s your favorite books by Jill Eileen Smith? Is there another Christian author I should check out? Let me know! Thanks for reading and have a great day!