HCNJ Virtual Book Club Meeting with Author
The HCNJ Virtual Book Club meeting will be held on February 1, 2024 from 7:30 - 9pm and will feature the book "Babylon: a novel of Jewish captivity" by Michelle Cameron. The author will join us for discussion.
A family saga spanning three generations of exile, Babylon: a novel of Jewish Captivity relates a little-known epoch of Jewish history. Everything changes for Sarah the day Nebuchadnezzar’s army storms Jerusalem. In an instant, her peaceful life on the farm is ripped away: her city sacked, her temple desecrated, her people enslaved. Marched across unforgiving desert sands to Babylon, Sarah — and what remains of the Judean people — must find a way to keep their faith alive in a new and unforgiving home. Displaced within an empire of strange gods and unimaginable wealth, Sarah and her descendants bear witness to palace intrigue, betrayal, brutal sacrifice, regicide, and a new war brewing in the east. Through every trial, the Hebrew people attempt to preserve their religion. Uri, Sarah’s son, works as a scribe, transcribing incredible stories of prophets and visions, Creation and Exodus… stories that establish the central tenets of the Hebrew faith. The novel raises provocative questions about assimilation versus maintaining religious tradition, issues of intermarriage, the rights of property, the compiling of early Biblical stories, and the painful choices that contributed to the longevity of the Jewish people. It is also an unfortunately timely novel, considering the crisis occurring now in the Middle East.
Only dues paying members can register. A Zoom link will be sent to those who register. Please email the event organizer Nancy Goguen at n_goguen@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
