The Secret Chord
Geraldine Brooks
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of People of the Book, Year of Wonders and March comes a unique and vivid novel that retells the story of King David’s extraordinary rise to power and fall from grace.
1000 BC. The Second Iron Age. The time of King David.
Anointed as the chosen one when just a young shepherd boy, David will rise to be king, grasping the throne and establishing his empire. But his journey is a tumultuous one and the consequences of his choices will resound for generations. In a life that arcs from obscurity to fame, he is by turns hero and traitor, glamorous young tyrant and beloved king, murderous despot and remorseful, diminished patriarch. His wives love and fear him, his sons will betray him. It falls to Natan, the courtier and prophet who both counsels and castigates David, to tell the truth about the path he must take.
With stunning originality, acclaimed author Geraldine Brooks offers us a compelling portrait of a morally complex hero from this strange age – part legend, part history.
Geraldine Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive. – The Washington Post
Brooks evokes time and place with keenly drawn detail … with the verve of an adroit storyteller … Ambitious and psychologically astute. – Publishers Weekly
a thundering, gritty, emotionally devastating reconsideration of the story of King David – New York Times Book Review
Mesmerising – The Australian Women’s Weekly
Full of drama and richly drawn detail, The Secret Chord is a vivid story of faith, family, desire and power that brings David magnificently alive.
