The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther [Paperback]

Rebecca Kohn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 26, 2005

For centuries her name has been a byword for feminine beauty, guile, and wisdom. This sweeping, meticulously researched novel restores Esther to her full, complex humanity while reanimating the glittering Persian empire in which her story unfolded. Esther comes to that land as a terrified Jewish orphan betrothed to her cousin, a well-connected courtier. She finds a world racked by intrigue and unfathomable hatreds and realizes that the only way to survive is to win the heart of its king. Passionate, suspenseful, and historically authentic, The Gilded Chamber illuminates the dilemma of a woman torn between her heart and her sense of duty, resulting in pure narrative enchantment.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What The Red Tent did for Dinah, The Gilded Chamber, a first novel by Rebecca Kohn, might do for Esther, the woman who wielded power over a King. The story follows the Book of Esther very closely: Xerxes banishes his wife Vashti and sets about finding a new wife by claiming all the young virgins in the kingdom of Persia for his perusal and delectation. Esther, born Hadassah, is a young Jewish orphan, remanded to the custody of her cousin Mordechai, to whom she is betrothed. Mordechai attends to the King at the Palace, but no one knows that he is a Jew. He warns Hadassah to take the name Esther when she is swept up by the King's edict, and not to reveal her heritage.

After a year of being pampered by court slaves, Esther is presented to the King. He is instantly smitten and makes her his Queen. sther longs for Mordechai but succumbs to the blandishments of the King to save herself from being sent to the soldiers--a horrible fate. In the course of Palace intrigue, Haman, a truly evil man who is viewed as a trusted servant of the King, plots to kill Mordechai, who will not bow to him, and ultimately to kill all the Jews in the Kingdom. King Xerxes, a bit of a buffoon both in the Bible and in Kohn's book, is languishing under the effects of idleness and too much wine. He gives Haman his signet ring; Haman drafts the edict which will result in the death of the Jews and seals it with the King's ring. Now, Esther must save her people.

The portent of this book is found not in the story alone, but in the meticulous research that Kohn has done into the time: Palace life, social customs, history, sexual practices, the place of women, war and politics. Descriptions of the care given to Esther before she meets the King are detailed: her trips to the hairdressers, her hennaed hands, the pungent oils rubbed all over her body, the gold-trimmed clothing she wears. She describes her dinner with a eunuch: "Golden cups in the shape of tulip blossoms were filled with sweet spiced wine from Hodu, and shining silver platters were piled high with meat stews and succulent birds I could not identify. A plate of sugared almonds and pistachios ... and a sweet of sesame, dates and honey..." She is willing to sacrifice all creature comforts to save her people; her success is celebrated to this day in the Jewish feast of Purim. --Valerie Ryan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In this measured, eloquent retelling of Jewish heroine Esther's rise from orphanhood to queen of the Persian empire, Kohn brings psychological nuance and stately elegance to the ancient biblical tale that is the basis for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Narrating in the first person, Esther (born Hadassah) tells how she is forcibly taken from her home to the royal harem of King Xerxes in Babylon. Her uncle Mordechai, a high-ranking treasury official in the king's service, warns her, "Do not reveal your people or your kindred.... Let yourself be known only as Esther, foster daughter of Marduka the Babylonian." The novel is by and large faithful to the biblical account and often quotes from it verbatim. Yet Kohn deftly fills the gaps and resolves the ambiguities in the Book of Esther with creative storytelling and historical research. As Esther recognizes her strengths and responsibilities and learns the ways of the palace, so do we; the oppressive closeness of the harem ("the lingering odors of perfume, food, and lamp oil"), the pervasive abuse, the fragile alliances and deadly schemes all come to life. Kohn's Esther has a will of steel and knows how to manipulate lusty, impetuous Xerxes, but she longs for a simpler life. Her sacrifices are finally rewarded when the king's trusted courtier Haman issues a decree ordering the slaughter of the Jews, and Esther is in a position to be able to save her people. Though the novel's pace slows at times, Kohn paints a convincing, complex picture of Esther, and her descriptions of the palace and its secrets will hold readers spellbound.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 353 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143035339
• ISBN-13: 978-0143035336
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Great Story...But A Somewhat Flawed Narrative, July 6, 2004

By 

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther (Hardcover)

I was ambivalent about rating and reviewing Rebecca Kohn's "The Gilded Chamber." It really had very little impact on me and, frankly, it left me flat - which surprised me. The story of Queen Esther is one of the most exciting parts of the Old Testament/Tanakh. The journey of the orphaned Jewish girl chosen in a nationwide beauty contest to become the wife of Xerxes I, and Queen of Persia, who ultimately saves her people from annihilation, is extraordinary. It emphasizes the miracle of Jewish survival over the millennia and is rich in religious significance. I found this novel somewhat flawed and not powerful enough to do justice to this great story. However, Ms. Kohn's narrative, although it deviates from the original story, is fluid and she does entertain and inform. For these reasons I believe the book is worth reading

Many have compared "The Gilded Chamber" to Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent." The only similarities I find are that both books deal with important women from the Old Testament. Ms. Diamant's novel of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter, is powerful, gritty, earthy, tragic and extremely original. There is little written in the Bible about Dinah, so much of the novel is based on the author's creativity and imagination. Rebecca Kohn's novel of Queen Esther, is a somewhat literal retelling of The Book Of Esther, although the role of Mordechai is much less significant here. Oddly, Mordechai is Esther's unrequited love interest, rather than her uncle. I don't understand the role change, as it really doesn't enhance the story. Why does Esther continue to have romantic feelings about the seemingly asexual Mordechai - especially when he does not reciprocate her feelings? Also, I would think that the historical Esther would have had to have been an extremely strong woman to accomplish what she did, let alone to survive in the court of Xerxes. Kohn's Esther comes across as a woman of little depth. She is subservient, dependent, and docile much of the time. I was unable to determine what her feelings were for her husband, Xerxes.

Much of "The Gilded Chamber" is set in a harem and affords the reader with a glimpse of life among the pampered concubines. I thought Esther's experience living amongst a group of women, confined to closed quarters, to be somewhat superficial. There is much emphasis on luxurious beauty treatments, silks and other finery, lavish jewelry, and occasional power struggles and little about relationships or about what the queen did on a daily basis beside beautify herself. What did she think? What did she do that had meaning - before and after she pled for the lives of her people?

While many of the main characters are Jewish, no one seems particularly devout not do they observe Jewish laws. Mordechai is not a practicing Jew and he encourages Esther to follow his lead in this. The characters are very one dimensional - the good are very, very good, and the bad are just plain evil. I would have liked the author to have given them much more depth.

That said, I do recommend reading "The Gilded Chamber" because, as I wrote earlier, it's a great story and Ms. Kohn writes it well.
JANA

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is no Red Tent, July 7, 2004

By 

Goldie "Book Lover" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther (Hardcover)

For those of us expecting a novel like Anita Diamant's The Red Tent, this book is a big disappointment. The Red Tent is about women's relationships with each other, and tells of -albeit fictional- background that may help our understanding of Biblical events. This book is written by and about one person, Esther. Esther is clearly the innocent heroine, the perfect victim who rises to every occasion as she is prepared for one task, to sexually please King Xerxes (known to many of us as King Ahasueros).

This is a romance novel! That's the only explanation and the only possible category for it. Pity, because it appears that the author did a good amount of research into the history and lifestyles of the harem and royalty. But it's a romance novel, with the girl and the two men, one the beloved and one the powerful. It's an overdone theme, and it's not worthy of the story of Esther.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, March 18, 2006

By 

Slight Reader "Noga" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther (Paperback)

I couldn't put this one down! one of the best reading experiences I had in a long, long time, I really felt connected and sympathetic to Esther and her situation, Very well written, A Rich and involving Book I RECOMMEND IT WARMLY!!!