Publisher's Synopsis
Before the plagues. Before the wilderness. There was a family-and a promise.
The Moses Chronicles: Prelude is biblical historical fiction rooted in reverence, imagination, and faithful storytelling. Set in Egypt in the days following the death of Jacob-also called Israel-this novel invites readers to step into the sacred tension between the verses of Scripture.
Jacob dies in the opening pages. But what unfolds afterward is a deeply human exploration of the legacy he leaves behind. His twelve sons-flawed, fierce, and still burdened by the past-must unite to bury their father. Their journey is not just back to Canaan, but into the heart of what it means to be family, to be forgiven, and to carry the weight of destiny.
Joseph, once sold into slavery, now rules Egypt as Vizier. But while he governs with wisdom, he senses a troubling shift. His name is fading from the palace halls. The Hebrew who once saved the empire is being quietly erased. And the gods of Egypt are stirring. Whispers echo through the temple courts. Pharaoh's favor is not eternal. And danger is far closer than Joseph realizes.
Told through the voices of Joseph, Asenath, Dinah, Benjamin, and others history nearly overlooked, Prelude paints a vivid portrait of the people behind the tribes of Israel. These are the brothers before they were banners. The women before they were forgotten. The moments before the tide of history turned.
In this novel, readers will meet:
- Dinah, the once-defiled daughter of Jacob, now stepping into a new life among the Egyptians, raising daughters not her own and reclaiming her place in the story.
- Asenath, Joseph's Egyptian wife, navigating the clash of two cultures and the challenge of raising sons tied to a people who are not yet free.
- Benjamin, youngest of the twelve, carrying the tender burden of his father's love.
- Judah, haunted by old guilt, yet quietly growing into the lion he was meant to become.
And at the center, Joseph, who must guide his family through the burial of their patriarch while protecting them from threats they cannot yet see-both in the land of their inheritance and the land of their oppression.
This is biblical fiction that honors what is written-and breathes life into what is not. As the author writes in her note: "I may take creative liberties with what is not said-but I never want to alter what is said."
Every subplot, every conversation, every act of forgiveness or defiance is born of historical study, cultural research, and prayerful imagination. The result is a story that feels both deeply grounded and strikingly fresh-inviting readers to sit with the sons of Israel around the fire, walk beside them on the road to Hebron, and glimpse the early cracks forming in Egypt's golden facade.
This is not just the beginning of a book.
This is the quiet before the fire, the threshold of a nation, the moment the heavens held their breath-before the deliverer was born.
