Jill Eileen Smith does such a great job of bringing stories from the Bible to life, while also trying to remain as faithful to the biblical narrative as possible. I never find myself doubting the authenticity of the story, even though I do know she needs to take some artistic liberties as an author to fill in the gaps of what we know, especially with some characters.

Miriam's Song mostly follows the perspective of Miriam, the sister of Moses. The story begins at the beginning where Pharaoh orders the Hebrew midwives to kill all the male babies birthed by the Israelite women. It then follows the birth of Moses and when he was adopted by the pharaoh's daughter. The reader then follows Miriam through her life, including through the plagues, the escape from Egypt, and the wandering in the desert. There are also some parts told from Moses's perspective as well as from his wife Zipporah.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this book, as I tend to do with any Jill Eileen Smith books. I tend to read more romance novels and while there is some in here as Miriam does get married and have a family, that's certainly not the main focus. Regardless, I still really enjoyed this book. Once the Israelites are wandering the desert, it does feel like it slows down considerable, but I feel like the Israelites must have felt the same way so it mirrors what they were going through pretty well.

I received a complimentary copy of this book and I'm leaving an honest and voluntary review.

I have read quite a bit of Biblical fiction and always enjoy seeing how the Bible story is portrayed in fiction. I love seeing how it "could have been." I understand that the author is adding a lot of thoughts and feelings that we are not privy to because we were not there. I was eagerly anticipating this story because there is not a lot known about Miriam and I wanted to see how the story shaped up.

I was fascinated from the beginning to observe the glimpse of history from Hatshepsut's perspective. She overhears her father's conversation to have all the Hebrew babies that are male killed. She is shocked to see her father in this light and to wonder if her mother was right, that her father was weak.

It was also interesting to see Miriam's perspective as her best friend's baby brother is killed. When Moses is born, Miriam follows her mother's lead in hiding him. It was fascinating the ways that they hid him and seeing Miriam as placed him in the Nile River. Miriam is just a young child and assumes so much responsibility that she comes across as an adult.

One of the themes of the book is repenting for a hardened heart. It is seen over and over again, as people get impatient for God to deliver on His promises. Even Miriam struggles at times to be patient and wait on the Lord.

I felt that the book had a strong start, but somewhere toward the middle I started to lose interest, it just seemed to be so long. While it was a compelling read, I think it is safe to say that there was not a lot that the author could work with, and she did a good job with what we know about Miriam. I am glad I took the time to read the book.

I would recommend Miriam's Song to fans of Biblical history.

Thank you to Revell and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. I was not required to provide a positive review.

Jill Eileen Smith's Biblical fiction never disappoints, and her newest release continues her amazing trend. This book was so enjoyable as it told the story of Moses life through the Exodus from Miriam's perspective. It was also interesting to note that Smith speculated that Miriam could have been married and gave her both a husband and children. Beautifully written with a wonderful Biblical and historical foundation, it retold the story of Moses life and the Exodus in such a manner that it brought it vividly to life.

Highly recommended for readers who enjoy Biblical fiction.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions are mine alone. I was not compensated for this review.

What an amazing reminder of God's holiness and compassion towards his people. I've also been reminded that God calls for obedience, but freely gives his forgiveness to the repentant people. Mirium is an amazing woman who pulls her family together in wonderful ways.

Miriam lived in Egypt for over 80 years as a slave before the nation was thrust out by Pharaoh and wandered in the wilderness for the rest of her life. It was a hard life, and one of which we only get brief, intriguing glimpses in the Bible. She was the older sister of the man whom God chose to save his nation, who, after such high hopes by their parents, stayed in the palace for almost forty years, then emerged only to commit a murder which forced him to flee the country for another forty years. Even when he returned, the path to freedom was far from clear, since Egypt's economy relied too much on the work of the slaves for Pharaoh to be willing to let them go until God's strong hand forced him to. And once in the wilderness, the nation of ex-slaves needed strong leaders...

I've read the story of the exodus and the wilderness wanderings many times, but as I so often find with Biblical fiction, I found this fictional account intriguing and thought-provoking. We really know very little about Miriam and her life, so there is necessarily a lot of fiction in the story, but the author did a great job of bringing together what we know from the various Bible records and from history into a coherent, persuasive and inspiring story. She obviously does lots of research and endeavours to make sure that her story fits in with what we know from the Bible - though there were definitely a few minor things in this that I didn't feel quite fitted, though it's hard to be sure at times. I was pleased, though, that the presentation of Miriam's role was untainted by modern-day feminist ideas. Told from both Moses' and Miriam's points of view, this is another great piece of Biblical fiction from the author. Highly recommended.

Note that I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review and this is my considered opinion of the book.

Miriam Song by Jill Eileen Smith
The book "Miriam Song" is a depiction of the life of Miriam (Moses sister) and Moses. I have to say that this wasn't my favorite book by Jill Eileen Smith, but it still a good book.

The bible says very little about the life of Miriam, so it was good to read the story though the imagination of the author. I know that Jill Eileen Smith is a author who does tons of research to get the information as real as possible. She like to pull you into the story and she has here. The only negative to me was there were sections that were slow and lost my interest.

I will be recommending this books to others through social media, friends and family.

I will give the book a 5 out of a five

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.

I have heard of Jill Eileen Smith so getting an ARC of this book was a great joy to me.

Miriam’s Song is a well detailed fictional book with Bible scenes meshed together to give you a glimpse of the life Miriam led in the Bible times.

Coincidentally, I was reading the book of Exodus when I got this ARC so I can say that this book helped me to understand the Bible because I could see some familiar characters Jill used from the book of Exodus.

Overall, this is a good book written by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell. Opinions expressed in this review are mine.

Fans of biblical fiction will enjoy Jill Eileen Smith’s latest novel, Miriam’s Song, which focuses on the story of Moses primarily through his sister Miriam’s point of view. Since not much is known about Miriam, Jill Eileen Smith fills in the blanks with a compelling tale of the popular story from the Bible. Her writing always encourages me to dig deeper into the Bible. Even though readers are most likely familiar with the story of Moses either through Scripture and/or the portrayal of his life in movies, Jill Eileen Smith’s interpretation brings a new perspective to the story that is worth checking out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.

In "Miriam's Song", Jill Eileen Smith creates an epic novel, with her flawless, impeccable research and keenly perceptive eye for detail. Miriam's eventful life, from obscurity to notoriety, presents a terribly painful lesson in humility and bowing to authority, without any complaints, grumbles or questions at any cost. While Miriam fervently prayed for deliverance from Egypt, the greatest liberation happened within the precincts of her own heart. Living in the towering shadow of her younger brother, Moses, while thrust into the role of protective older sister, Miriam served both God and her people, in bearing the burden of leading a fledgling nation in the throes of its new birth. Miriam's yearning for fulfillment is finally satisfied when she learns that God provides what He promises, in His own perfect time. In her epic novels, Jill Eileen Smith plumbs great emotional depths in the hearts and lives of her characters, with a modern sensitivity rarely seen in historical novels. She skillfully infuses her narratives with the passion and beauty of ancient Biblical culture, while casting an intriguing, gripping look into the lives and times of her characters. I highly recommend this great book to all readers and researchers alike.

Like all biblical fiction reviews, let me recap what I think makes for good biblical fiction. First, it doesn’t blatantly contradict anything in Scripture. Second, it tells its own story while being faithful to the biblical text. Third, it is able to make sense of the biblical setting’s context—that is, it is accurate to what we know of the historical and cultural contexts.

This puts Jill Eileen Smith in quite a difficult spot with Miriam’s Song because the time period of the Exodus is both extensively covered in fiction, but also very much disputed academically. I mean, your bar for excellence in any Exodus retelling includes The Prince of Egypt and The Ten Commandments. Smith’s unique modifier is her focus on Miriam, the older sister of Moses who plays an integral part in Moses’s upbringing and in the Exodus journey, yet about whom we have little knowledge. There’s a lot of contextual gaps that Smith could wave her wand of fiction over and indulge readers in a speculative journey.

Unfortunately, that’s not what happen. Smith binds herself too tightly to the biblical text, only talking about Miriam at points when she shows up in Scripture. Since the book of Exodus is mainly told from the perspective of Moses within a patriarchal society, that leaves Smith with very little to work with. Miriam’s Song is really the story of Moses told from the perspective of Miriam.

This becomes very evident when Smith gives readers a few chapters in the perspective of Moses and even Moses’s wife, Zipporah. Smith writes in the afterword that she had to do this, “because all three people saw things from completely different perspectives,” but this is supposed to be Miriam’s story. It’s Miriam’s Song, but the novel casts her aside in favor of Moses. Smith never tells the story of Miriam. It’s simply Scripture with some flair rewritten mostly, but not entirely from Miriam’s perspective.

Smith also struggles to integrate the historical reality of Israelite enslavement into the book. There is the actual sentence “They’d had a good life these past five years, despite the slavery.” And…I just can’t. This is a story that begins with infanticide and comes in the context of 400 years of oppression, but, hey, not so bad, right?

Another historical inaccuracy comes in the dispute over Moses marrying a Cushite (Num. 12). For some reason, Smith writes this as some sort of secret love affair that happens after the death of Zipporah and Miriam and Aaron’s disapproval stem from a quick remarriage. But it is far more likely that Zipporah is the Cushite of Numbers 12 and that Moses only married one person. Cush and Midian are sometimes used interchangeably (see Hab 3.7) and while there is scholarly debate, the consensus is that Zipporah is the Cushite of Numbers 12.

Altogether, Jill Eileen Smith failed to pull me into the story, never really said anything interesting or new, or provided context backed by the history and culture of the time. Though styled to be the story of Miriam, it fails to be even that. Miriam’s Song fails to tell a cohesive story, or an interesting one. It’s a collection of scenes that read more like biblical fanfiction than a coherent story. I do appreciate the themes of female empowerment, but the positives of this book are outweighed by the negatives and I cannot recommend it. Go rewatch The Prince of Egypt instead.