Always a treat to have the extremely talented Tessa Afshar on the blog, and today she’s here to talk about her newest Old Testament-era historical novel, The Hidden Prince!
THE HIDDEN PRINCE by Tessa Afshar
GENRE: Inspirational Historical Romance / Biblical Era
PUBLISHER: Tyndale House
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2022
PAGES: 399
Scorched Places
by Tessa Afshar, author of The Hidden Prince
Every time I write a new book, I find something in my research that touches me personally. Some historical detail that soothes my heart and reminds me of God’s long plans. This time, while writing The Hidden Prince, I found my personal nugget in Babylon.
Babylon was once the wonder of the world. Astoundingly wealthy, this sprawling metropolis housed one quarter of a million people in its cosmopolitan bosom, making it the largest city the world had ever seen.
King Nebuchadnezzar’s building projects had turned Babylon into a stupefying sight. The city boasted crenelated double walls encircled by moats, standing so wide in places that a chariot could be driven over them. A series of man-made canals carried the river’s precious water into the arid city, while architectural wonders like the famed seven-story ziggurat and the Ishtar gate with its blue-glazed bricks left visitors dazed with awe.
But the Hanging Gardens were the most iconic of Babylon’s monuments. Tiered gardens filled with mature trees and shrubs, tinkling water irrigating the green landscape . . . all sitting atop a palace roof. A miniature woodland sprouting out of a brick and bitumen roof. It ought to have collapsed. Or at least leaked, if it was anything like my house. Instead, it bloomed year after year, thick-trunked trees visible from the wide street below.
Reading about the Hanging Gardens, I realized something that left me a little breathless.
Among those who would have seen these impossible gardens would have been the captives from Judea. Years after losing everything, they would have seen this wondrous sight in the scorching heat of Babylon: a verdant garden on a rooftop!
Decades before this, the Prophet Isaiah had made a prophecy about these survivors of a shattered land:
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:11)
I cannot help but think that the Judean captives would have remembered this verse when they saw the Hanging Gardens. They must have realized that their lives were like that rooftop. An impossibly arid place. And yet, as sure as that rooftop had turned into a watered garden, their scorched lives could be transformed by the hand of God.
Those gardens were a sign of hope. Something I wanted to capture for my readers in my new book.
The Hidden Prince tells the story of a woman who thinks her future is destroyed. Instead, she finds that just around the corner from the worst, God’s best is waiting. She discovers that God can turn the scorched places of her heart into a well-watered garden.
In many ways this is a light-hearted story with a lot of humor, adventure, and sweet romance. But ultimately, after the I-can’t-ever-get-over-this moment in the story, this is a book that helps us remember God can overcome every scorched circumstance in our lives.
Tessa Afshar is an award-winning author of biblical and inspirational historical fiction. She holds a Master of Divinity from Yale University, where she served as cochair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. After working in women’s ministry for nearly twenty years, Tessa became a full-time writer and speaker. Tessa and her husband live in New England, where they proudly tend their mediocre garden.
Visit her website at tessaafshar.com.
Tyndale House is offering a print copy of The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What makes you want to read The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar?
I love a book where someone finds a purpose for their life.
Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
I LOVE Tessa’s books!
The way she brings Bible stories to life is amazing.
I know the basic stuff, but I never know what else I’ll learn!
Wonderful treasure which I would cherish greatly.
It sounds like a really interesting book. Thank you for sharing.
I would like to read The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar because it sounds like a fascinating story.
Biblical fiction is a unique genre, and Keren’s story sounds riveting.
I would love to read this book. The cover is really beautiful. Thank you for the giveaway.
Sounds like a really good book.
Tessa is an absolute favorite author of mine. I just finished reading her last 2 books. She writes so well, incorporating Biblical history, truths, and such relatable characters. Thank you so much for sharing!!! 😍📚
I love everything I’ve read by Tessa Afshar!
I’ve never read a book by this author and her background research has me wanting to know more about Babylon and the Israelite captives lives there.
I love this reminder.
Tessa Afshar is an excellent author!
different
Sounds really good
I want to read this because it sounds fascinating.
I love the historical setting and love this author too.
Amazing Biblical Christian Fiction author.
Not only does the description of this book draw me to it, Tessa’s comments about her research and Babylon and the Hanging Gardens further cement my desire to read THE HIDDEN PRINCE. I enjoy books of Biblical settings and time, and Tessa is a good storyteller. She brings to life the characters and places. And she also shows how God is present, then and now.
All of her books are so interesting. They teach me so much.