Ancient magic brings ‘The Dovekeepers’ to life

A book review by Kendra Redman  -  It’s funny how a name thousands of years old can still ring with power.   I had heard the name Masada and knew it signified a terrible event a long time ago, but until I read The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, I didn’t really know why the very word had survived over centuries as a symbol.

Set in ancient Judea, known now as Israel, this is a novel of four extraordinary women who rose above the laws, society’s rules and  women’s place in the world of men.  Yael, Revka, Aziza and Shirah are very diverse personalities who come from different backgrounds, yet each arrived through force or choice at the stronghold known as Masada at a time when the Roman Empire was bent on exterminating the Jews.  Their lives intertwine as they work together in the dovecotes of the fortress, caring for the birds whose lives mean survival for the inhabits of the fortress.

Yael has learned the power of silence and invisibility through a cruel childhood.  When she and her father are forced to flee Jerusulem and make their way through the searing desert, her inner courage matches the fire of her hair.  Revka, once the wife of a baker, must also flee into the desert upon the attack of her village.In the desert she finds that there are more beastly things than wild animals and her remaining family are deeply scarred by a traumatic event that leaves her grandsons mute in horror and her son-in-law changed into an avenging angel.  Aziza, raised as a boy for most of her childhood, must hide her warrior heart from others while living a double life among the women and the fighters of Masada.  Shirah, raised in the arts of ancient magic and prophesy finds them to be both her blessing and her curse.

The novel The Dovekeepers is separated into the individual narratives of each of these women and the paths they followed to arrive at Masada where their lives become eternally intertwined. I think that is one of the strengths of the book, its switch among narrators each with their own story to tell.  I think the same events told from slightly different viewpoints gives readers more to consider.  Each have experienced in different ways the trials and tribulations as well as the joys of being women at this time in history.   It is rare to find many written records of women in history, as for centuries they were not considered to have lives worthy of note.   The courage of these women, and what they to do survive, belies that idea that women’s lives were not of enough consequence to keep written records.

Another element that made the novel flow was the elements of ancient magic.  In our modern world we look to science for our explanations, but this was a time when people either turned to magic or religious faith to explain the unknown or try to control the elements of their world.  The book well describes the hypocrisy of a world where people buy magic tokens and charms when they want to assure the good outcome of something, but then turn on the people who create these magics.   Much of the time, the power that  these wise women or witches had wasn’t real magic, but knowledge of herbs, the understanding of the human psyche and other wisdom passed down through their mothers.  In a time when women had no rights and very little power, those women who carved out some power for themselves were feared by men and often persecuted by them for doing so.  After all, it’s a blink of an eye from these women at Masada, to Joan of Arc to the Salem Witch trials.

Although this book is labeled historical fiction, like any good historical fiction it is a story based on many of the true facts of the fall of Jerusalem and the siege of Masada, so people who normally read only non-fiction would also enjoy The Dovekeepers.  Also, I am probably similar to many people in that I usually do not read the acknowledgements at the end of a book thinking they are just the authors’ personal thanks to people, but I would recommend anyone who reads this book to not skip the Acknowledgements.   In this case as they contained some fascinating information about real artifacts found at Masada which were threaded throughout the story and probably fired the imagination of the author.

Reviewer Kendra Redman is a professional writer, editor and social media expert with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Creative Writing. A world traveler and voracious reader, she enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics and views learning as an adventure.

The Dovekeepers

Hardcover: 512 pages
Publisher: Scribner (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 145161747X
ISBN-13: 978-1451617474