I wanted to know who wrote the Bible, could parts of it be the works of women story tellers and writers, and why and "when did the Bible happen?" What was history and what was mythology or agenda-based speculation? The sequel to "The Faithful Harlot," "Huldah the Mouse," is also a historical fiction work. The writing is done and the much longer process of editing is happening. Huldah (whose name means "mouse") was the Biblical prophet who certified the first written Torah in 621 BCE. She could have been the main writer of it and of six additional books of the Bible if she had access to oral and written history through the Babylonian Captivity. "Huldah the Mouse" escorts the reader on an odyssey through the 7th century BCE Middle East that would have given the prophet such access to Shiloh, Jerusalem, Nineveh, Byblos, and Ashurbanipal's Library. Huldah's fictionalized mother, Emerald, narrates the dangerous adventure leading to their establishing Huldah's historical "college for women" during the reigns of seventh-century King Amon and his father King Josiah of Judah.

In the final novel of the series" The Harlot and the Mouse," Huldah, cousin of Jeremiah the eloquent prophet, finishes her project, which is now referred to as The Deuteronomistic History. She supervises Levitical scribes while under the protection of another historical genius, her friend and student Neo-Assyrian Princess-Priestess Addagoppe of Haran. The final novel is set during the 6th century's golden literary era beginning with the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian Captivity.

I've allowed myself the fun of a including a bit more fantasy in the sequel, incorporating the interventions of the angel, Zagzagel (Isha in "The Faithful Harlot," but a male 600 years later in this sequel), as the Biblical top servant to the king of Jerusalem. I've reworked some delightful, Biblical "magical realism," such as in a reimagining of Jonah's tale, using additional fantastic elements borrowed from a similar story in the ancient Mesopotamian Gilgamesh legend.

My three-part, historical series begins with Canaanite polytheism in the era of our alphabet's birth and infancy (Book 1, "The Faithful Harlot"), then focuses on the evolution of belief to henotheism/monolatry in the infancy of Judaism (Book 2, "Huldah the Mouse"), and finally, on the rise of what we now call monotheism (Book 3, "Captive Jewels of Babylon").

Like "The Faithful Harlot," the two sequels in "The Harlot and the Mouse" series contain maps, an annotated list of characters from the Bible and other historical sources, a very short list of purely fictional characters (women with jewel names, pets, a couple of friends and servants), and a chapter-by-chapter set of suggested discussion questions for book clubs or individuals. Although suitable for intelligent young-adult audiences, the stories are primarily intended for adults who love their history with vivid characterizations, "background music and scenic design."

Thanks for reading. 

Elizabeth