O Jerusalem

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Although O Jerusalem is Laurie King's fifth book in her Holmes-Russell series, it actually takes us back to the era of her first book, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Perhaps King was afraid that her characters, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, were becoming too cozy as an old married couple, and she wanted to recreate the edgy sexual tension of their first encounter.

It's 1918. Nineteen-year-old Mary and her fiftysomething mentor are forced to flee England to escape a deadly adversary. Sherlock's well-connected brother Mycroft sends them to Palestine to do some international sleuthing. Here, a series of murders threatens the fragile peace.

Laurie King connects us, through details of language, custom, history, and sensual impressions, to this very alien environment. Russell, Holmes, and two marvelously imagined Arab guides named Mahmoud and Ali trek through the desert and visit ancient monasteries clinging like anthills to cliffs. They also find time to take tea with the British military legend Allenby in Haifa and skulk through or under the streets of Jerusalem. King puts us into each scene so quickly and completely that her narrative flow never falters.

Stepping back in time also gives King a chance to show us Holmes through the eyes of a Russell not yet as full of love as a honeymooner, nor as complacent as a comfortable wife. "There it was--sardonic, superior, infuriating," Mary says about Holmes's voice at one point.

Wisdom is knowing when, and how much, to shake things up--even in a successful series. Laurie King is a wise woman indeed. --Dick Adler

Book Description

With her bestselling mystery series featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, Laurie R. King has created "lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company," according to The New York Times Book Review. Now the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and The Moor--the first writer since Patricia Cornwell to win both the American Edgar and British Creasey Awards for a debut novel ( A Grave Talent)--unfolds a hitherto unknown chapter in the history of Russell's apprenticeship to the great detective.

At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England's green and pleasant land, Russell and Holmes enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft.

"Gentlemen, we are at your service." Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins--Russell as the beardless youth "Amir"--to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through the dusty countryside.

A recent rash of murders seems unrelated to the growing tensions between Jew, Moslem, and Christian, yet Holmes is adamant that he must reconstruct the most recent one in the desert gully where it occurred. His singular findings will lead him and Russell through labyrinthine bazaars, verminous inns, cliff-hung monasteries--and into mortal danger. When her mentor's inquiries jeopardize his life, Russell fearlessly wields a pistol and even assays the arts of seduction to save him. Bruised and bloodied, the pair ascend to the jewellike city of Jerusalem, where they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for savagery and power could reduce the city's most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite this tinderbox of a land....

Classically Holmesian yet enchantingly fresh, sinuously plotted, with colorful characters and a dazzling historic ambience, O Jerusalem sweeps readers ever onward in the thrill of the chase.

Customer Reviews:

O Jerusalem, Letter of Mary.......2007-09-09

Both these books deal with the Holy Land, from the perspective of a scholarly young woman, Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes. A Letter of Mary has to do with a letter from Mary Magdalene discovered by an archaelogist, and O Jerusalem with the travels of Russell/Holmes in the Holy Land as spies. Both books are theological, historical and quite fascinating. Mystery is involved with A Letter of Mary as the archaeologist/discoverer of letter is murdered and Russell/Holmes sort it out. O Jerusalem deals with spying for Mycroft Holmes (brother of S. Holmes and big deal in the English Government) Lots of action and people wounded but all works out OK in the end.
Linda Sheean

Watching the genesis of today's middle east tensions... through fiction.......2007-01-26

Laurie King has swiftly become one of my favorite authors -- the sort who make you grab any book with their name on the cover, without even reading what it's "about." She's an extremely powerful writer who puts you into the middle of the story/world she's writing about, and your "real life" goes away.

If you've found your way to this page, it's likely that you've read at least one of the books in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. If not, I strongly urge you to start with the first book, the Beekeeper's Apprentice. This story takes place chronologically in the middle of that book (with an arm wave to "after our adventures in Palestine" in the first novel), and I believe you really do need to have that foundation to get the most out of O Jerusalem. You don't, however, need to have read the other books in the series; in fact, I've found myself wondering if I'd have liked this one even better if I'd read it second.

What King does very well, here, is present a mystery story against a backdrop of history which most of us (including me) know only vaguely. During the action of O Jerusalem, the British have recently gotten control over the area, and we see the tensions and cultural clashes between Arab, Jew, Turk, British, and anybody else passing through. By the end, and without the pain of a history lesson, I'd learned a lot more about early 20th century problems and gotten a clue about how they affect us today.

Other reviewers have criticized King for creating a pre-feminist Mary Russell who magically raises the consciousness of the Arab men around her. P'shaw. She is drawn to be an exceptional woman (otherwise she'd never have attracted Sherlock Holmes' attention), and I find it completely believeable that a logical and caring person can earn the respect of other people from another culture.

This is a book that I dove into, and didn't emerge until I'd turned the last page. Only a few days later I went to the bookstore and picked up the next one in the series. Yeah, I like this book. I like it a lot. If you like your historical mystery to teach you history while it also entertains, it'll be high on your list as well.

I'm surprised at the ratings..........2006-12-31

I have to admit I'm kind of surprised at the number of negative reviews here. I am a huge fan of the Mary Russell series, and to be honest, this is probably my favorite book in that series, though I love the others as well. Maybe because I enjoy re-reading my books, the emphasis on a clever mystery is less important than the overall story: mystery, adventure, characters, description, phrasing... I have probably read this book seven or eight times now (I read about a book a day even on a tight schedule) and each time I savor the feeling of becoming absorbed in the bright gem of a story.

Something a number of people have mentioned is the lack of 'motive' for the bad guy. That astonishes me, because I felt that King did a fabulous job of describing the political situation and therefore the motive. I think the people who felt there was no motive skimmed over much of the detail because it seemed loud and clear to me: Middle East is in turmoil (now there's a big surprise), there are Christians, Jews, Arabs, and Turks who all live there and no native power base. The Brits have walked in and removed the reigning Turkish leaders but haven't established a new infrastructure or anything other than an unstable military occupation. The big question up in the air is - who will come out of all this chaos in power. Perfect situation for an unscrupulous bastard to take up power behind the scenes. Now, without giving too much away, if that person were able to KEEP things unstable, they would continue to have power. Once everything settled down, the opportunity to take control would dry up. The bad guy couldn't take control openly, but what about... Seems fairly well worked and complex to me with a great, if subtle motive.

No, this book doesn't have an open, obvious motive (she killed her husband, why? to inherit the money...), but the motive along with a lot of fascinating historical and political detail make this a book that I will probably read another seven or eight times. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy complex and subtle plots and fabulous description and character development.

What I always give as a present to cool people!.......2006-09-21

It's just a great story, told with wit and humor, sheer adventure but just clever enough to make you feel like you are a little bit better and richer for having read it. Everyone I have given it to likes it, and they are very different kinds of people. Basically one of my favorite books.

Enjoyable .......2006-03-21

O Jerusalem is the first Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel I have read. I think that it was a good choice considering that although it is the fifth in the series, chronologically it follows the Bee Keepers Apprentice which is the first in the series. I had no other books in the series to compare it too so from that point of view I have to remark that I really enjoyed this story. Mary Russell is a wonderful character, full of life, intelligence and courage. I love how King envisions her relationship with Holmes it is right on the mark. I am an historical fiction lover so I was in heaven reading the descriptive archeological passages written about Palestine from Russell's perpective in 1919. All the characters in the book are strong and well developed. It is less of a suspense mystery during the first half of the book and more of a series of adventures that occur between four unlikely companions; Russell, Sherlock Holmes,and brothers Mahmoud and Ali. The later half of the book gains momentum and the writing becomes more urgent and taut with the conclusion being exciting. I'm looking forward to reading the whole series.

Average customer rating:

Great historical integrity, readable style
Mandatory reading and overwhelmingly informative
Gripping, Narrative-style History at its Best
Interesting historical account selectively told
Despite flaws a MUST READ!

O Jerusalem
Larry Collins , and Dominique Lapierre
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0671662414

Customer Reviews:

Great historical integrity, readable style.......2007-08-01

The authors inspired me thirty years ago when I first read this work. It remains one of my all-time favorites. God's protection for His people is just as evident with the modern state of Israel as it was centuries ago.

Mandatory reading and overwhelmingly informative.......2007-07-30

Everything about Israel's War of Independence is here, hour by hour and minute by minute. Exhaustive, comprehensive, fastidiously detailed. A panorama of a land, a beehive of characters. It is a mandatory read but at times it becomes overwhelming, and it is hard to stay focused among so many characters and minute by minute action.

It will take more than one reading to absorb all this information, so I recommend to take it easy and pay more attention than I did.

Gripping, Narrative-style History at its Best.......2007-06-08

Having read thousands of pages on the middle east conflict (including the more standard "advocacy" (propaganda) and academic texts) and I can safely say this book is the most riveting and informative of them all. The authors come across more as storytellers than as lecturers, offering the history in a narrative style that reads like a particularly dramatic novel. The authors devote more or less equal time to the Arab and Jewish protagonists (and antagonists) in the colorful cast of characters and don't shy away from using the word terrorist as appropriate - regardless of the bad guys' motive. Ultimately this book's greatest strength is that it (perhaps inadvertently) sheds so much light on the modern debate between Israel's "traditional" and "revisionist" historians, whose arguments themselves go right to the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict. To get a real grip on this conflict, skip the activist lectures and devote a few days to reading this book instead.

Interesting historical account selectively told.......2007-02-05

Well-written 1972 book that focuses on one aspect of the creation of the Jewish State of Israel. Countless interviews are strung together here with people who lived through the first war between the Jewish and Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem and environs, and to a lesser extent, other parts of the area that was to become Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Like the authors' other well-known book, "Is Paris Burning," "O Jerusalem" reads a bit like a screenplay, and, in my opinion, some liberties are taken in presenting the thoughts and emotions of the book's subjects even though many of them perished in the 1948 war and never were directly interviewed by the authors.
Because of the almost exclusive focus on Jerusalem in this weighty chronicle, there is an absence of information on what else was taking place in other parts of the area at the same time. Also missing is much about the Ottoman Empire and British mandate periods that set the stage for the ultimate showdown between the longtime Arab inhabitants of the region and resurgent and growing Jewish population.
Overall, the authors' purpose in telling the story of the triumphal birth of Israel does not allow for a completely objective telling of the whole story. There is considerable focus on the disarray and out-and-out villainly of the Arab governments of the time, but much less on the everyday Arab citizenry living in the disputed territory, who were ultimately to become the biggest losers in the l948 struggle.
There are other problems with the book--the most important reference map for this book is tucked into its last page--but it ultimately serves as an interesting snapshot and a partial explanation of the conflict that continues unabated nearly 60 years after this telling. If there is some lesson here, it's that good intentions and high purposes are easily forgotten in the passion and viciousness of war.

Despite flaws a MUST READ!.......2007-01-13

Most people who have not made it their specific study are relatively unaware of the creation of the state of Israel. Fortunately, there is this excellent account of the birth of Israel and the war that followed. This book does have a number of flaws, but despite this should be read by anyone looking for a fair account of the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The book is the result of exhaustive research by two well respected authors including several hundred interviews conducted in the late 1960s. The focus of the book is at the micro level, the lives and experiences of common people who were swept up into the maelstrom of battle, but at the same time it does address the Macro considerations of the great leaders and powers. As such it contains an amazing caste of characters, mainly in their own words, from Jewish immigrants, to King Hussein of Jordan, to simple Arab villagers, to President Truman. Perhaps despite this, O' Jerusalem is a VERY readable book and a true page-turner.

The real failure of the book is that it was the product of its time. It was written shortly after the Six Day War in which Israel took on three of its neighbors and decisively defeated them. It was also long before the full implications of the refugee problem were known. As a result, it tends to paint the Israelis in a rather positive light. It leans ever so slightly in their favor on most questions. (more on this later)

That said, the authors made great efforts to be totally objective and exercised the greatest academic rigor. When there are contradicting versions of an event, they provide both versions with sane and level headed analysis. They restrict their information to primary sources rather than so many books now which use secondary or processed information. In some cases, they have found accounts from both sides of a single firefight in which the actions of one interviewee are remembered by a participant from the other side. It is an amazing feat of historiography.

There is also no effort to paint over the flaws and faults of either side. This is perfectly exemplified by the books treatment of the massacres of Dier Yassin (when about a hundred Arabs were murdered by the right wing Jewish Irgun and Stern Gang) and Kvar Etzion (When an approximately equal number of Jewish settlers were murdered by Arab Irregulars perhaps with the connivance of the Arab Legion). Both are honestly reported. When sources disagree, it is pointed out.

It is perhaps the best recommendation for this book that it will probably infuriate the "true believers" on both sides. Neither side turns out to be plaster saints or a pack of black devils. They are human. This makes this book one of two a person MUST read in order to understand the Middle East. The other FYI is "The Lemon Tree" by Tolan. That book leans rather hard towards the Arab viewpoint. Ideally read them together for an incredibly balanced version of events.

The founding of Israel was, depending on your point of view, an incredible miracle or an incredible "Al Nakba" Disaster. Both sides will agree however that it is an incredible story. This book is probably the best and most readable account of the incredible story that still affects the world in which we live even 60 years after the events it relates have transpired.

The Parallel Apocrypha: Greek Douay-Rheims King James Version New Revised Standard Version New American Bible New Jerusalem Bible Today's English Version The Holy Bible by Ronald Knox

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All the words fit to print
Finally an easy way to get a "complete" Bible

The Parallel Apocrypha: Greek Douay-Rheims King James Version New Revised Standard Version New American Bible New Jerusalem Bible Today's English Version The Holy Bible by Ronald Knox

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195284445

Book Description

The Parallel Apocrypha is a multi-text version of the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. It is intended for clergy of all denominations, students, academics, and interested lay readers. A comprehensive essay by Judith L. Kovacs on the content and character of the Apocrypha enhances this unique volume, as do six introductory essays on the role of the Apocrypha in Judaism and several Christian traditions.

Customer Reviews:

All the words fit to print.......2004-11-19

This Parallel Text volume by Oxford covers eight versions of the Apocryphal texts:

The Greek Text
The King James Version
Douay Old Testament
Holy Bible by Ronald Knox
Today's English Version
New Revised Standard Version
New American Bible
New Jerusalem Bible

What most people who hold fast to the King James Version of the Bible don't realise is that the Authorised Version of 1611 contained the books of the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments, and that these were later removed by printers and denominational/sectarian leaders for various reasons. Apart from Roman Catholic bibles in the United States, most bibles did not contain the apocryphal books, and Protestants in particular are only now coming to rediscover these hidden treasures. Indeed, the word 'apocrypha' comes from the Greek word meaning 'hidden things'.

The Apocrypha consists of 18 texts, books or additions to other books (such as Daniel or the Psalms). The ambiguity of their status comes from the disparity of ancient Hebrew versus Greek copies of the scriptures, the Judaic/Hebrew canon as opposed to the Septuagint. There are introductory essays (each only a few pages in length) that give the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Protestant and Evangelical views of the apocryphal texts, written by scholars from each of those traditions, which range from automatic acceptance/inclusion (Orthodox) to fairly clear rejection (most Protestant and Evangelical).

John Kohlenberger, the general editor of the volume, also includes an essay he wrote about the texts and translations. Kohlenberger includes a chart that shows the spectrum of deuterocanonical/apocryphal acceptance across the 'big three' lines of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox; he also gives an introduction to sources of the English bible, discussion of the Vulgate and detail on each of the major translations incorporated.

All of these texts are included in this book, laid out in quadrant format, four to a page, with all eight texts/translations laid out in each two-page spread. Because of the space requirements, the text is very small, and there are few if any notes throughout the text (hence, while it is good for study to have the parallels, this is not in fact a study bible).

A good aid for scholars.

Finally an easy way to get a "complete" Bible.......2000-05-06

So often we act as if the only Bible canon dispute was between Catholics and Protestants. We leave the Orthodox with no complete Bible as the editions of "Bible with Apocrypha" have only the Catholic/Protestant books. This book includes texts for both Greek and Slavonic Orthodox and the one "appendix" accepted by the Greek Orthodox.

So the articles prefacing the texts are written as dogma rather than history or theology ... who cares? At least now I can have a truly complete parallel Bible for Bible studies.

Footnote: I am not Orthodox but some texts accepted only by the Orthodox as canonical appear as antiphons in Catholic liturgy.

Edges: O Israel, O Palestine
Average customer rating:

I really enjoyed it...lyrical descriptions of the land

"...the place of her sexual awakening...."

Intimiate and Compelling portrait

This slim novel has wonderful images and evocative writing. It

A feverish, sensual, remarkable book

Edges: O Israel, O Palestine
Leora Skolkin-Smith
Manufacturer: Glad Day
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Book Description

"Edges" takes the reader to an Israel in 1963, before high walls formed a border, when, instead, metal wires hung "like hosiery lines" across the land. Liana Barish is fourteen years old when the suicide of her American father forces her mother, mourning, in despair back to her family--to Jerusalem where she grew up. For Liana it is the place where the powerful interdependence of mother and daughter--physical and spiritual--ends. It is the place of her sexual awakening.

Customer Reviews:

I really enjoyed it...lyrical descriptions of the land.......2007-08-28

I really enjoyed the book. It's got a lot of tension and I felt I kept wanting to read, wanting to find out what was going to happen. The characters are totally alive and your descriptions of the land are so lyrical! It makes me want to ask--did this really happen to the author herself? So real! And at the same time surreal, suffused with the limited perceptions of a young girl. It made me think a bit of Ghost Dance, by Carole Maso. It is also about an odd relationship between a mother and daughter, told from a perspective skewed by the oddness.

"...the place of her sexual awakening....".......2007-08-28

"Edges" takes the reader to an Israel before high walls formed a border, when, instead, metal wires hung "like hosiery lines" across the land. Liana Barish is fourteen years old when the suicide of her American father forces her mother, mourning, in despair back to her family--to Jerusalem where she grew up. For Liana it is the place where the powerful interdependence of mother and daughter--physical and spiritual--ends. It is the place of her sexual awakening.
This can happen when Liana escapes across the border with the missing son of an American diplomat. They are made closer by the death of a young Palestinian boy. They move deeper into the world of Palestinian fields, olive orchards, villages.
The novel is set in the Israel of the early '60's. Liana's mother and aunt tell lively stories about the 1940's, their young guerilla-like struggles against the British particularly, the mother's memories of growing up in a shared land in the old city before it was divided."

from GRACE PALEY, writer and editor of novel

Intimiate and Compelling portrait.......2007-08-28

This slim novel has wonderful images and evocative writing. It.......2007-08-28

"This is an intimate and compelling portrait of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary time and place. This first publication from Glad Day Books, Grace Paley's new imprint, is a promising debut." Robert Gray, author of Publisher's Marketplace and Fresh Eyes
Review:
"Ms. Skolkin-Smith's first novel is a captivating story giving the reader a view into a land and culture of another time...This slim novel has wonderful images and evocative writing. It is a novel about coming-of-age and about family and love. I imagine it is one that will stay with me for a long time."
Quoted from www.Bookgirl Nightstand

A feverish, sensual, remarkable book.......2007-08-28

from the tinyl Glad Day Press founded by Grace Paley and Robert Nichols is EDGES: O ISRAEL O PALESTINE by Leofra Skolkin-Smith, and it's not a book that you lie back and sink into: it takes some concentration for its rapid and realistic changes. The situation is that an American girl Liana's Israeli mother takes her back to Israel in the early nineteen sixties, and yes, there was a shooting war going on then too, albeit generally with smaller arms. There are deaths: the girl's father is a suicide, as is her mother's beloved brother. A small naked Arab boy is shot to death in a skirmish between Israeli soldiers and snipers from the Jordanian side. Liana's mother is a full figured ripe woman with whom she is passionately connected, rich with smells and embraces. Liana wants to run away to Paris which she associates with her father, but instead she finds an American diplomat's son who has gone missing. There are illicit forays into Jordan; Liana runs away. There is sex, there are smells, always smells and fabrics. There is a rejoining with the family..

--Meredith Sue Willis (REAL NAME) REVIEWER FOR BOOKS FOR READER

David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J.J.M. Roberts

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David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J.J.M. Roberts

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Jesus Ben Sira Of Jerusalem: A Biblical Guide To Living Wisely (Interfaces)

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Jesus Ben Sira Of Jerusalem: A Biblical Guide To Living Wisely (Interfaces)
Daniel J. Harrington
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Focused on Jerusalem - almost.

Zion, City of Our God

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Customer Reviews:

Focused on Jerusalem - almost........2006-11-28

This collection of essays by nine scholars seeks its focus on the city of Jerusalem during the Old Testament period and makes for interesting reading. The book is less about Zion than one might think as each author presents a fairly focused study relating to Zion. So, for example, the article on Zion in the prophets is a study on Ezekiel, where Zion is never even mentioned, rather than prophets that do mention Zion (Isaiah & Jeremiah). The entries are interesting and helpful, some more than others. Satterthwaite's "Zion in the Songs of Ascents," adds to one's understanding of a that small collection of the Psalter more than the city of Jerusalem while the article on Lamentations is less about the context and role of Jerusalem and more about the construction of the book. In short, the book provides helpful information on a few sections of Scripture that relate to Zion rather than Zion itself but it makes for an enjoyable read.

Commentary of R. Samuel Ben Meir: Rashbam on Qoeleth (Publications of the Perry Foundation for Biblical Research in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

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Commentary of R. Samuel Ben Meir: Rashbam on Qoeleth (Publications of the Perry Foundation for Biblical Research in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

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The Origins of the 'Second' Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem (Bibleworld) (Bibleworld)

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The Origins of the 'Second' Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem (Bibleworld) (Bibleworld)
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Book Description

Darius I, King of Persia, claims to have accomplished many deeds in the early years of his reign, but was one of them the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem? The editor who added the date to the books of Haggai and Zechariah thought so, and the author of Ezra 1-6 then relied on his dates when writing his account of the rebuilding process. The genealogical information contained in the book of Nehemiah, however, suggests otherwise; it indicates that Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were either contemporaries, or a generation apart in age, not some 65 years apart. Thus, either Zerubabbel and the temple rebuilding needs to be moved to the reign of Artaxerxes I, or Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the city walls needs to be moved to the reign of Darius I.

In this ground-breaking volume, the argument is made that the temple was built during the reign of Artaxerxes I. The editor of Haggai and Zechariah mistakenly set the event under Darius I because he was influenced by both a desire to show the fulfillment of inherited prophecy and by Darius' widely circulated autobiography of his rise to power. In light of the settlement patterns in Yehud during the Persian period, it is proposed that Artaxerxes I instituted a master plan to incorporate Yehud into the Persian road, postal, and military systems. The rebuilding of the temple was a minor part of the larger plan that provided soldiers stationed in the fortress in Jerusalem and civilians living in the new provincial seat with a place to worship their native god while also providing a place to store taxes and monies collected on behalf of the Persian administration.

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