Son of Saul

In this historical novel, Jonathan, son of Saul and one of the most widely admired characters in the Hebrew Bible, tells his own story, from his harsh and secret instruction in arms as a youth, through his father's sudden elevation to political power he did not want, to his father's decline into fear and madness with the appearance of the charismatic David. Despite being a hero of Israel's war to throw off Philistine domination, Jonathan lives an agony of divided loyalties: between his own vision of God and the ferocious decrees of the prophet Samuel; between his marriage and a forbidden friendship with a beautiful Canaanite priestess; between his father and David, destined to take the throne. Jonathan struggles in the middle ground between these conflicting claims until they find a resolution, on the bloody slopes of Mount Gilboa.