Pharaoh's Daughter: A Novel of Ancient Egypt by Julius Lester

Pharaoh's Daughter: A Novel of Ancient Egypt Reviews

• 
  Asenath

  Story about Moses. Made Moses' birth mom the bad guy. Invented sibling of Moses who converted to Egyptian ways. Actual writing wasn't bad, but the ideas and proposed theology made me uncomfortable.
  
• 
  Beverly

  I take issue with Lester's assertion in his "Author's Note" section that the book of Exodus is not historically accurate. And as a Jew, Lester's assertion is puzzling. What is it that he does not understand about "divine inspiration?" God wrote the books of the Torah through the hand of Moses, inspiring him what to write down. So, the book of Exodus shows us how God felt about the Khemtians (Egyptians) and their treatment of his chosen people.
  Apart from this, the novel was interesting, with Lester inventing new members of Moses' Hebrew family. He gives Moses an identity crisis which is not very evident in scripture, and creates for him an older sister (not Miryam) who rebels against Ya (short for Yahweh) and her family, and becomes a priestess in Khemet (Egypt). The first part of the book is told from the sister's (Almah) point of view, and the second half is told from Moses' point of view, ending with his escape from Khemet, after murdering a Khemetian man.
• 
  Mimi

  Interesting (re)telling of the beginning of Moses´ story.
• 
  Degenerate Chemist

  3.5 rounded down
  
  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this little novella. This book is meant to be entertaining brain fluff and it does its job well.
  
  "Pharoh's Daughter" is about Moses, his Egyptian family, his Hebrew family, and the pull of his multicultural upbringing. The novella is split into two books, one from Moses' sister Almah's POV and the second from Moses POV. Almah's story focuses on her rejection of her Hebrew heritage and embracing Egyptian culture. Moses story focuses on his conflict between choosing between his dual inheritances.
• 
  Christie Powell

  I enjoyed reading this story. I like that it takes a piece of history and considers it from both sides of the story, which is a mindset that I think people today could use more of. It raises questions that you'll have to answer yourself.
  
  This book looks like a YA, but it's definitely going on my adult shelf at home, mostly for the nudity.
• 
  ●sophie●

  Pretty simple yet good read. I like Mosis’s thought process and just mainly how the characters act throughout the story. Pretty interesting tbh :))
  
  Rating: 4.23 ⭐️
• 
  Pandora

  Julius Lester tells the story of Moses from the viewpoint of an older unknow sister who saves him from the Pharaoh's soilder. Lester got the idea that Moses might have had a second sister becasue the traditional texts don't state that it is Miriam that put Moses in the basket. This sister will become Egyptian which is why she will be exculded from the Bibical account. The second part of the book is from Moses viewpoint as he struggles with his divided idenity of being Hebrew and Egyptian and at the same time neither. The story goes up to the time Moses has to flee Egypt because of the murder he commits.
  
  A good story with a new take on the ancient story. Lester tries to be balance with his take on Egypt and the Hebrew showing that neither side is all right or all wrong. This is why he inivited an unknow sister to show a balance view of Egypt as she finds in the Egyptian religon a connection she was unable to find in the Jewish religon. A concern is that the book does have the older sister dance naked which is how things were done apparently in ancient Egypt.
  
  A well thought out story although some people probably won't be happy with the directiion Lester took. He does try to show a human Moses and not the Charlton Heston myth. Lester is also realistic in that Moses couldn't get to the throne but, suggest he could have had an important postion within the court. Moses adopted Mother also shows up well as she becomes more inclinded to follow the Hebrew ways. This switching of idenity is probably influence by Lester's own switch to Judism from Christainty.
  
  I liked the book but, I only gave it three stars because it didn't wow me. It is a good story though once I got past my assumption that the older sister should have been Miriam. Worth reading but, as I said it wasn't a story that gripped me. Others might have a different reaction to it. I'm also concern that some people will be offened by the older sister "pagen" ways.
• 
  Dawn

  Dawn States
  Historical Fiction
  
  This historical fiction book takes place centuries ago in ancient Egypt during the time of Pharaohs and the building of the temples by the Hebrew people. It is a retelling of the story of Moses, and puts more depth in this story we all thought we knew. The book is easy to relate to, as one thing that does not change over time is human nature. We still have the same emotions of love, fear, longing, and becoming, today as people did then.
  Almah is a Hebrew girl who is much different than the other girls in her village. First, she is not scared of anything. Second, she can speak the language of the Egyptian people. For this the people in her village treat her differently. These things actually save her young brother from disaster when the Egyptians try to kill every baby male in her village. The Pharaohs own daughter adopts her young brother as if he was hers. She names him Thutmosis, or as we know Moses. Things change quickly as Almah and Moses try to find their new place in the court of the Egyptians. Moses especially struggles with knowing his place, caught as he is between the Hebrew and Egyptian cultures and beliefs. Which one will he eventually choose?
  
• 
  Uri Cohen

  Pharaoh's Daughter is a young adult novel by Julius Lester (2000). The premise of this modern midrash is that when baby Moshe (called Mosis here) was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-10), the baby's unnamed sister was not Miriam but another sister, who doesn't appear in the Torah's list of Moshe's relatives because she ended up staying in Egypt. The Torah here refers to the sister as "ha-almah" (the girl), so Lester names her Almah. The first half of the book is narrated by Almah, and the second half is narrated fifteen years later by Mosis. He has grown up in the palace of Grandfather (Pharaoh Rameses II), and has been raised by three mothers. Yes, it's complicated:
  
  (1) Ima is Yocheved, his birth mother. She is Habiru (Hebrew) and hates the Khemetians (Egyptians).
  (2) Mother is Batya, his adoptive mother. She is Pharaoh's daughter but has embraced the religion of the Habiru to worship Ya (Hashem) exclusively.
  (3) Almah is Mosis's oldest sister, who has helped raise him. Moving in the opposite direction of Batya, she has embraced Khemetian religion to become a priestess of the goddesses (!).
  
  Not surprisingly, Mosis has an identity crisis – is he Habiru or Khemetian? The book's second half revolves around the violent incident that forces him to flee Egypt (Exodus 2:11-15). I'm leaving out the details, but I'll just mention that Kakemour (whom Mosis kills) is an important supporting character in the book, as is Asetnefret (Pharaoh's wife, who hates the Habiru and pressures Pharaoh to be tough on them).
  
  Lester, who died in 2018, was a black professor of Afro-American studies for many years at UMass Amherst. Among other things, he wrote lots of books and converted to (liberal) Judaism. He explains in the Author's Note that he wanted to portray the relationship of the Egyptians and Hebrews as more complex than the way it's presented in the Torah, in light of what (we think) we know about ancient Egypt.
  
  I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, but I thought this book was well done. And it gets points for being relatively short – even with the glossary, it's only 180 pages.
• 
  Pindar's Muse

  Lester's retelling of the Moses (here Mosis) story (or part of it) that partly follows the narrative of Almah, Moses' older sister, and his subsequent upbringing under partial Pharaonic care. The author's version of events greatly differs from what most people are familiar with. It may work for some readers, but not for others. Moses is essentially brought up by three "mothers," which renders things a bit confusing, especially when the roles of the two main female characters change (as do their names), and he often refers to his birth mother and adopted mother as 'mother.' Almah essentially becomes an Egyptian while the Princess assumes Hebrew customs (we're never explicitly told why). With such a confusing upbringing, it's no wonder teenage Moses feels constantly conflicted about his own identity.
  
  Another big distraction was how the narration switches halfway through the book. Almah is the first narrator; Moses the second. It's one of those books that suddenly jumps years into the future in the second portion of the book.
  
  Lester has a good handle on bringing the ancient world to life, although the retelling falls somewhat flat and not everything is explained well. Worth a go if you have a few days to spare.
  
  
• 
  Valerie

  I read this book for the ATY 2019 Reading Challenge Week 15: A Mediterranean country
  
  Ah, the intrigues of life in the sacred halls of power...any sacred halls, but these happen to be those of an Egyptian pharaoh. Life is especially dicey if you are a young man named Mosis and your grandfather's wife-to-be hates the Habiru, the people of your birth. Deceit and betrayal characterize much of the book, as well as, a struggle to discover who you really are. Almah, Mosis's sister finds her place, as does his adoptive mother, but at 15 what's a boy to do?
  
  If you are looking for a religiously acceptable interpretation of the Biblical story of Moses, according to other reviewers, this is not it. It IS a historical fiction.
• 
  Victoria

  This book gave me and in-between feeling. It was fantastic and made me want to keep reading but at the same time I felt like the author could of toned things down a little. However- the author also did a terrific job of explaining the Egyptian culture.
• 
  R.M. Bryan

  Tough to get through, but kind of worth it for the depth of feeling it carried.
• 
  Haley Bartling

  It was about ancient egypt . when moses was around
• 
  gabe17violin

  Stellar!
• 
  Rebecca Heywood

  An interesting perspective of Moses and his time with pharaoh before becoming the “famous Moses”
• 
  Beth Slucher

  “What if Moses had a sister older than Miriam named Almah?” muses the author, thus starting the book with 12-year-old Almah’s POV. Part 2 is from 15-year-old Moses’ POV.
• 
  Foxx

  It’s rare to find a historical fiction so thoroughly researched but -especially- if it’s drawing from Judeo-Christian history! This book is a true exception, on par with The Red Tent.
• 
  Christina Roe

  I like historical fiction but this one was too far removed from the facts to be enjoyable.
• 
  Teresa

  A truly wonderful read, very engrossing, easy to follow, very good scene-setting without being overly descriptive.
• 
  Shayshkers

  This book was an odd duck. It was strange. And not like cool strange, but "....huh" strange. 1.5 stars.