Review: Drawing In The Dust by Zoe Klein - I Loved It!

Drawing In The Dust
Zoe Klein
Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9781416599128
360 Pages

Wouldn't it be wonderful if alternative history sometimes really took place? Do we know for sure that it didn't? I believe that if the love story that Zoe Klein created in Drawing in the Dust was true then God, me and a lot of other people would be very happy! Indeed, Klein's Drawing in the Dust is an inspired beautifully written novel that demands to be read and shared!

Naima and Ibrahim Barakat came quickly to speak to Page Brookstone. She was at work in Megiddo and had been for twelve years. When the Barakats explained they were looking for an archaeologist to "dig" under their home, it could have been fate. Quite possibly, though, it hit just at the right time since Page had become less than thrilled to be pulling out wrapped children from long-ago tombs on a daily basis. It also didn't help that her boss, mentor and roommate in a housing area of fellow professionals, was also suggesting a different relationship than she cared to have...

Curiosity more than anything else brought her visiting Anatot. She was happy to visit since it was the hometown of the prophet Jeremiah and she told herself that she might as well learn about Jeremiah's home. She asked a local merchant for a tour and he quickly indicated he would show her Jeremiah's tomb. But when she saw the tomb, which appeared to be early Muslim, her own knowledge told her that she was not visiting the tomb of the great prophet.

But then Ibrahim saw her and immediately assumed she was there to visit them--how could she not go with him? When she was inside their home, though, she immediately began to question their sanity, for he has drilled a hole right between the couch and the television! How quickly could she leave!

She is invited to dinner and Naima shows her to the bathroom to freshen up. But there Page encounters a figure, standing behind her, but when she turns, there is nobody there. She quickly is on her way to the front door, but encounters Walid, their nephew who has already started to remove the tarp in the living room. Page is hooked!

I do not in any way want to spoil the story of what happened after that! Only to say that I wish the story was at least based upon a real archaeological site, because what is found is beautifully described and would be a marvelous discovery! I will say, though, that a scroll of Anatiya is one of the archival documents discovered. Of course, the author is responsible for the writing--such poetic beauty! Assumed verses of the scroll, written in the language of many of the Old Testament books:

"It is an appalling...thing to be an ancient scroll, filled with stories and secrets... in an earthen jar...where no one can touch you or know you."

Jealousy, fear...and love waits for Page to encounter as she excavates beneath a home that is known for being haunted by ghost lovers! Meet Anatiya...and a side of Jeremiah you have never heard about in Drawing in the Dust by Zoe Klein. It is a book that you will remember for learning the secrets in that earthen jar.

Although based upon some religion history, this is an adventure into an alternative historical mystery you shouldn't miss! I loved every page of this book!

G. A. Bixler