My quest to find decent novels about Ancient Mesopotamia continues, although I’m still not having much luck finding books about this period other than Biblical fiction. And so I came to Eleanor de Jong’s Delilah, the story of my favourite Biblical harlot-hairdresser. It turned out to be quite a contradiction: a Biblical tale that doesn’t particularly follow the Bible; an historical novel which shows little interest in history; and a story which should show women at their most wily and powerful, neutered into a love story. Come, join me, as we try to tease our way through an increasingly unfamiliar Biblical tale...

For my full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/10/22/delilah-eleanor-de-jong/ ( )

This has nothing to do with the biblical story, and little else to recommend it. ( )

The story piqued my interest from the start and was easy to read. The descriptions were good although I detected a bit of 'info-dumping' at times (I really didn't need to know in great detail what every dress of Delilah's looked like).

The middle of the story was slower and felt like it was held together by many love scenes one after the other, with certain character actions and thoughts thrown in just to show the reader "look, I haven't forgotten about this very important point!". One character that I thought would be central completely stopped appearing after the first few chapters for no apparent reason. And although I thought the plot was well thought out, with its rationalising of certain events and making the characters seem human, some behaviour I did find odd, like Delilah's family's lax attitude towards their teenage daughter, letting her disappear for days and nights on end and sleep with whoever she wanted.

I found the ending quite shocking; although I vaguely knew what to expect, I'm not familiar with the biblical story and I don't know what has been elaborated on. It seemed a bit harsh. But overall it was an enjoyable, easy read and a bit different. ( )

After Delilah’s father dies her mother remarries their employer. But he is Philisetine while Delilah’s family is Israelite and there’s no great love between the cultures. Her new stepsister Hemin seems to hate her and everything she represents but Hemin’s brother adores her.

Hemin is about to be married to Samson, young Israelite who people look as their leader. The wedding doesn’t go through and Delilah takes great dislike to Samson when they first meet. When her stepfather offers her as a wife to Samson instead of Hemin, she makes it clear what she thinks of him. But Samson can’t get her out of his mind and then Delilah gets on offer she can’t refuse.

I’m surprised how much I liked this. I’ve heard of Samson and Delilah before but didn’t know anything about them so I didn’t know what to suspect.

Delilah was strong, willful and brave and I liked her from the start. She grows in a Philistine family learning their culture and ways and has never really felt the need to learn the ways of her people. When she meets Samson she thinks he’s brutish barbarian but there is spark between them from the start. I didn’t always agreed what she did or how she did but I understand her reasons.

I liked Samson and how he believed in what he was doing. He was definitely no barbarian but not an open or easy man either. He was said to be violent man but he also cared for his mother and gave great balance. But I did wonder that Samson being no idiot how easily and completely he fell for Delilah so quickly. He suspected everyone and everything of betrayal but never even thought she could betray him?

Delilah’s brother Ekron is first rather weak and gives Delilah puppy eyes and I wasn’t prepared for the change for what he became. Not sure if everything he did to her at the end was really necessary but it showed how far they had became while choosing sides.

I liked the book and it was great debut for the author. While the characters are from the bible it’s not very religious and I felt like I was reading just historical book. ( )