Title : The Dovekeepers
Author : Alice Hoffman
Context : The Dovekeepers is a historical fiction novel about an iconic and tragic event set in Ancient Israel. The story in the novel is about 4 extraordinarily sensuous, resourceful and bold women each of whom has arrived by a different path to the Masada Mountain.
Synopsis : Around 2000 years ago, nearly 900 Jews were held on a mountain, Masada in the Judean desert for months, against the armies of the Romans. Josephus, an ancient historian has recorded that the survivors were only five children and two women.
The four bold women who have arrived at the Masada Mountain are Yael, Revka, Aziza and Shirah. Yael’s mother lost her life at childbirth itself, the death of which her expert assassin father never forgave her for. Revka, wife of a village baker had watched the Roman soldiers kill her daughter; she brings her young grandsons to Masada who after witnessing the murder, were rendered mute. A warrior’s daughter Aziza was raised as an expert marksman, fearless lad who finds passion with a fellow soldier. The fourth woman is Shirah born in Alexandria, who is highly knowledgeable in ancient medicine and magic. Shirah is a woman with supernatural power and insight. It is during the distressful days of the war, that the lives of the four fiercely independent and complex women intersect.
All the women are termed as ‘The Dovekeepers’ the one who are retaining secrets about themselves, like from where they have arrived from, who they are, who has fathered them and who they are in love with.
Other works by the Author :
Novels
1977 – Property Of
1979 – The Drowning Season
1980 – Angel Landing
1982 – White Horses
1985 – Fortune’s Daughter
1987 – Illumination Night
1988 – At Risk
1990 – Seventh Heaven
1992 – Turtle Moon
1994 – Second Nature
1995 – Practical Magic
1997 – Here on Earth
1999 – Local Girls
2000 – The River King
2001 – Blue Diary
2003 – The Probable Future
2004 – Blackbird House
2005 – The Ice Queen
2007 – Skylight Confessions
2008 – The Third Angel
2009 – The Story Sisters
2011 – The Red Garden
2014 – The Museum of Extraordinary Things
2015 – The Marriage of Opposites
2016 – Faithful
2017 – The Rules of Magic – prequel to Practical Magic
2019 – The World That We Knew
Young Adult Novels
2001 –Aquamarine
2002 – Indigo
2003 – Green Angel
2003 – Water Tales: Aquamarine & Indigo (omnibus edition)
2005 – The Foretelling
2006 – Incarnation
2010 – Green Witch
2012 – Green Heart
