Book of the Week: The Dovekeepers

Those familiar with Alice Hoffman's writing will immediately recognize her femaleprotagonists in The Dovekeepers. They are strong, passionate, brave, resilient and, of course, some possess magical powers.

But unlike her previous works, this story is based on an historical event that took place almost 2,000 years ago. This is Ms. Hoffman's re-imagining of the Roman siege on the Jewish fortress of Masada.

Masada was a seemingly impregnable mountaintop Eden populated by about 900 Jewish men, women and children, some of whom had found refuge there after being persecuted and driven from Jerusalem, their temple burned to the ground by the Romans. After defending their Masada for several months, as the Romans breached the fortresswalls these Jewish rebels chose to commit mass suicide rather than submit to Roman rule. According to the writings of historian Flavius Josephus only two women and five children survived.

The novel spans seven years and is told from the viewpoint of four women. Theirs are tales of how they made it to Masada, were brought together working in the dovecotes,and lived through the siege. The Dovekeepers is the kind of book you find yourself thinking about for weeks after you've put it down.

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