Each wife portrayed had a different personality and experience with Solomon, as would be expected. Seeing things from the viewpoint of his Egyptian wife was interesting, especially considering she is the one who had a palace built for her outside Jerusalem. As a result, we learned the author's speculation on how this came about to be mentioned in the Bible. While I didn't much like the personalities of the women, I very much enjoyedntheir stories. Portions of this book were previously published as e-books by this author (The Desert Princess, The Shepherdess, Daughter of the Nile, and The Queen of Sheba), so readers will thoroughly enjoy how all of these stories come together to tell a more complete narrative of King Solomon’s life. This novel focuses on four important loves in King Solomon’s life, while also exploring the relationships Solomon had with his parents, King David and Bathsheba, one of his half-brothers, Adonijah, and most importantly, his relationship with God. Readers will learn about his first wife (and mother of his heir) Naamah, Abishag the shepherdess, Siti the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh, and Nicaula the queen of Sheba.

The Heart of a King is a compilation of short stories about four of the wives of King Solomon. I was apprehensive from the start as this book seemed to fit into my preconceived notions of what I would be reading. Abishag was the second wife. She was previously the wife of King David, but married Solomon to be safe from his twisted brothers. Abishag was such a woman! She didn't let herself be played a fool nor did she have any delusions about being Solomon's second wife. She was such a artsy and pure hearted of the four wives. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust.

Celebrating success

Where I struggled with this story was with the wives, as I suspected, but not for the reasons I anticipated. Firstly, I felt as though there was no closure to their stories. Each wife was featured in turn in the lead-up to her marriage to Solomon but then faded out of the story, and seemingly his life, as the next wife came along. I know there are novellas corresponding to these characters that give a fuller account of their stories ( The Desert Princess, The Shepherdess, Daughter of the Nile, and The Queen of Sheba), so maybe I need to read those to get better closure, but I found their stories dissatisfying in the context of The Heart of a King. Dudley arranged for Queen Elizabeth to visit Tilbury to announce his appointment and rally the troops on 9 August 1588. The queen's reported words during that visit has gone down in history. Read it in full below. Naamah the Ammonite, his first wife and a friend of his youth. Namaah seeks to know Solomon and his God in a more personal way. She also hopes Solomon will obey God's commands to kings and be the husband of one wife. The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

The heart of a king is well written. It seem to be about the life of King Solomon. We see it though the view of the his wives. This is what I got though reading the book. It seem like book that tell the story of the king. The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blogIf you are looking for a romantic view of Israel's (and the world's) wisest king, then this is the book for you. Smith introduces you to four wives of different histories from different times in Solomon's life. Each thing I did, you had to meet another lot of people who have all sorts of views of you beforehand, all sorts of prejudices,” he wittered at a broadly sympathetic Mayer in their original interview, which he declined to supplement with a second. This book was fascinating and unique, and I would recommend it to those who enjoy wonderful Biblical fiction—the story is captivating, and certainly inspires the reader to dive even deeper into the real world of the Bible, and find out more about the truth in this powerful story.