""This accursed heat This scorching wind and sand "" moaned the young warrior Hanani ben Amran as he stood atop the wall of the great King Solomon's fortress at Tamar. ""Why is it my lot to spend three years in this infernal desert? There is nothing here worth defending . . . There is no adventure, no war, no anything here "" So went Hanani's daily complaint. Ah, but there was adventure, and plenty of it There was intrigue. There was war. And, to complicate matters, there was also romance. Caught up in these events, Hanani would find himself captured twice, and would need to draw on all his wits--and the help of others--to escape. If you like all of these ingredients in a historical novel, you will enjoy Tamar: A Story of Adventure, Intrigue, and Romance in Ancient Israel. ""Tamar is a historical novel rooted in the early years of Israel's own civil war. King Solomon had recently died, and his young son, King Rehoboam, lacked both the wisdom and military strength to hold the twelve tribes together as one nation. Glover Shipp uses his knowledge of biblical history during this tense time in Israel's history to create a story that touches our hearts in the twenty-first century. Tamar is a page-turner."" --Howard W. Norton, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil Dr. Shipp is an artist, professor, journalist, editor, poet, and songwriter. He holds four degrees, has studied six languages, and has written more than fifty books. He has twice participated in the archeological dig of the fortress at Tamar, Israel, and has conducted extensive research on the Middle East. He is presently a professor at Austin Graduate School of Theology. He and his wife have six children, thirteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.