The
Idumean
Covenant
A Novel of The Fall
of Jerusalem
Eugene Stovall
Publisher's Synopsis
In C.E. 66, the ancient world convulses in tumult and rebellion. Religious zealots, the radical wing of the Pharisaic party, overthrow the High Priest and the Sadducean party who have ruled over Jerusalem for nearly 500 years. With the fall of Jerusalem, Judea and, indeed, the whole of Israel, erupts in a bloody insurrection against Rome. The violence in Judea embroils the entire empire in the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
Two men, Titus Flavius Josephus and Titus Flavius Vespasian, both of whom share the love of the same woman, bind themselves in such a powerful pact that the upstart equestrians under the Flavian dynasty supplant the rule of the once mighty patricians. But before this new world order can be ushered into existence, three slaves must keep an appointment with destiny. Two of them are warriors who must freely serve the interests of their masters and one is a woman, who must not only nurture them but their powerful masters, as well -even though the conflicts and hostilities of these five men have caused the barrenness in her womb.
Amazon Book Review April 19, 2010
By M. Brown
Excellent Book!,
This review is from: The Idumean Covenant: A Novel of the Fall of Jerusalem (Kindle Edition)
The Idumean Covenant: A Novel of the Fall of Jerusalem (Kindle Edition) is a very interesting book. I found it very hard to put down my Kindle after I downloaded the book.
The entire story is interesting. The book is loaded with action. The story is about Abrahams sons. Two twin sons that never liked each other. The names of the twins are Esau and Jacob. When their father Abraham passes away the two brothers begin fighting and continue to do so until their death.
Eugene Stovall is author of this novel. He does an excellent job including facts about what actually happened and mixing them with fiction. He describes what it might have been like for Jacob and Esau. How they each must have felt.
If you are in the mood to read a great novel that is filled with interesting facts about history than you should download this book. It makes for great reading. I am sure it will have you interested until the very end; at least it did for me. I really enjoyed the book.
I found myself wondering what was going to happen next every time I put the book down. I read the entire book in two days. The story grabs the reader's attention and enthralls the reader.
Death, destruction and the persecution of an entire nation at the hands of the Roman army set the stage for "The Idumean Covenant: A Novel of the Fall of Jerusalem" . Orchestrating the violence and mayhem is the Roman general, Vespasian, governor of Galilee, his son Titus and the Jewish Historian, Josephus, who turns his back on his people and paves the way for Roman domination of Judea and his own glory.
Abraham's twin grandsons, Jacob and Esau, were bitter enemies. Jacob's descendants the Judeans become God's chosen people and Esau's descendants, the Idumeans, became the people that God's hated and despised. God's prophets, Isaiah and Ezechiel, urged the Judean to rob and even kill Idumeans. However all this changes when the Judeans seek assistance from the Idumeans in their insurrection against Rome ____ at least that’s what Josephus tells us.
The Idumean Covenant is a locomotive taking the intelligent reader on a historical adventure of cynical plots, unconventional alliances and impossible loves pitting the most powerful men of the Roman Empire against each other. Moreover, "The Idumean Covenant makes a convincing and thoroughly factual connection between the Temple of Jerusalem and the Priory of Scion, between the Temple Guards and the Order of Templars.
With mercenaries, priests, murderers and the wrath of the Roman empire driving the action, "The Idumean Covenant" keeps the readers guessing from the very beginning into whose hands Jerusalem and the whole of Israel will eventually fall-and what will become of three unlikely heroes, a trio of house slaves whose misadventures leave their audience in suspense from the first page to the last.
In a time of religious upheaval and civil war in a country where men of different faiths can never be brothers, three slaves must keep a date with destiny.
It is the time of the zealot, where religious fervor has led Judea (in fact, the whole of Israel) to rise up in insurrection against Rome. Titus Flavius Josephus and Titus Flavius Vespasian, charismatic leaders who share a hunger for power, find themselves unlikely allies in a battle for Roman supremacy-and unlikely enemies for the heart of a woman.
Readers viewing the book for the first time may well look at its lofty title and dismiss it as anything more entertaining than the average textbook-until they crack open the first page. Within minutes they'll fall in love with Stovall's unlikely heroes: Robban, our cynical house slave turned bandit, Lupo, the loveable servant whose life's ambition is to keep Robban from hopping out of the frying pan and into the fire and Ailijah, the love of Robban's life and the consort of Titus Flavius Josephus himself-for a while, anyway.
Follow Robban, Lupa and Ailijah as they join forces to set Israel to rights in "The Idumean Covenant: A Novel of the Fall of Jerusalem".
About the Author
Dr. Eugene Stovall has been many things in his lifetime, but ordinary has never been one of them. The California native was invested into the Knights of Peter Claver following a stay at St. Joseph's College Seminary, where he studied for the Catholic priesthood. Following his graduation from Bishop O'Down High School Dr. Stovall pursued his studies at St. Mary's College but was lured away by the wild skies and the dedication of the U.S. Air Force.
Following his tour of duty with the USAF Eugene Stovall graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California, then going on to complete a PhD in Political Science that served him well during his employment with the California State Legislature and the University of California's Institute of Race and Community Relations. Escaping the political arena, Dr. Stovall threw in his hat with Pacific Bell, where he stayed for eighteen years while maintaining a steady reputation as an adjunct professor in colleges throughout California.
"The Idumean Covenant: The Fall of Jerusalem" is Stovall's third publication, with a fourth currently in the works. His first novel, "Frank Yerby: A Victim's Guilt", was the recipient of the 2007 IPPY Bronze Medal and the basis for the Frank Yerby Symposium, hosted at the Oakland Museum.
"I discovered that Yerby costumes his novels to address his two audiences: those who wish merely to be entertained and amused and those searching for information," says Stovall. "In this way, I find Yerby to be not only a debunker of historical myth, but an oracle of historical truth, as well."