Customer Reviews

Voice of the Goddess

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This strongly crafted novel is a compelling love story etched on a lush canvas of competing Mediterranean cultures as the early civilizations clashed on land and at sea¾a conflicted world restless with military adventurism. At the crossroads of contending tyrants, gods, philosophies, religions, and economies stands the serene culture of ancient Crete. Judith Hand invites us there to experience that society's struggle to survive. Her heroes and heroines are rooted in historical construct. In pursuit of their aspirations, they make mistakes, ones that could topple one of the loftiest of ancient cultures. Who then might survive the carnage to carry their examples of harmony and coexistence to following generations?

Confessing a personal bias, as a retired military officer, I enjoyed the shrill authentic ring of gnashing swords, the battered groaning shields, splintered oars and shattered masts so vivid in her battle scenes. War is not pretty. Killing is not a game. To her credit, Judith Hand did not write those scenes as entertainments. The human fear, sweat, blood, exhaustion, revulsion and tears weren't omitted.

Judith Hand's well-planned novel, successfully recounts the last days of the sea people of Ancient Keftiu (Crete). Called by Sir Arthur Evans, the Minoans, little is known about this ancient yet advanced society who as far back as 1680 BC actually had such modern innovations as the first drainage system with flush toilets. More importantly, these people had created a system of non-aggressive egalitarianism with religious and sexual freedom that has yet to be rivaled in our so-called modern age of equal rights and tolerance.


Although the writings of these sea people have not as yet been deciphered by historians, Hand makes good use of the religious interpretation of scholars with regard to the meanings behind the pottery, frescoes and other artifacts that have been unearthed on Crete and its satellite island of Santorini to reconstruct the lives of these first civilians of Western Civilization. She weaves a rather intricate cautionary tale of a peaceful weapon-free society challenged by its more aggressive and bellicose mainland neighbors who under the guise of religious differences covet the Keftian's wealth.


Epitomizing the almost stubborn reluctance to change the Law of the land in order to halt the encroachment of the Achean mainlanders is Leesander, a maiden/wannabe temple priestess whose sensitive telepathy with the maternal Goddess figure enables her to hear the sacred voice of the Great Mother that leads her to a life in the great temple at Knossos. By her side is Alektrion, seafarer, childhood friend and eventual lover who wisely believes that only through military attack can Keftiu be saved. Through their concurrent narratives, Leesander and Alek plunge the reader into their separate realms; we participate in the intense training Leesander undergoes as a temple priestess from her initiation into the ancient women's mysteries, to the significance of the Cretan bull dance, and to the inner sanctum of the Mother's womb, where like the Pythia of Delphi, the Goddess speaks under the haze of the poppy. Alektrion's vital masculinity and questionable half-breed status allows us to roam the wine dark seas with the more objective eyes of one confused of his status and place in a society unwilling to convince itself of its own imminent demise.


The love story between the two is secondary; Hand neatly builds up to their happenstance re-acquaintance at a good moment in the story although the use of the cave in the rain may be perceived by those a bit jaded as typical romance genre tedium. The real genius of this tale is the recreation of an ancient world of both the male and the feminine essences and its almost metaphorical leaning towards the history being constructed today.



For although perhaps not intended, Hand's sorry story of envy and cultural distrust can be seen in the wake of 9-11 as a metaphor for impending disaster if the lessons of such a history are not heeded in our more modern world. The natural disasters of 1680 BC depicted in the novel, when the island of Kalliste (Santorini) exploded, causing earthquakes, days of black rain and a tsunami the size of which Southeast Asia recently experienced in all its fury, can certainly be appreciated by those of us living in the Gulf where the devestation wreaked by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will hopefully cause those in authority to reevaluate their proud, stubborn and out-moded fiefdoms of power to better protect the infrastructure of such no-brainer staples as communication and safety that must support the people in the future.


Recommended to all who enjoy dreaming of ancient lands with an eye to understanding the present and to anyone who just likes a good story built from a foundation of good references.

In a way this wonderful book reminds me of The Mists of Avalon. It is more fantasy novel than historical novel and seen through the eyes of a heroine rather than a hero. What are the forbidden secrets of the priestesshood? How are young girls prepared and trained sexually and romantically to take their place in this paradise of a society. How does a woman thus trained rise to become an actual goddess to her people and deal with the cataclysmic natural disaster that threatens to doom them all? Will she have to give up her true love to save her people? You will be surprised how this dynamic and clever heroine Leeshandra contrives to keep her honor but "have it all."

Set in ancient Minoa, Voice Of The Goddess is an epic novel of two lovers who must struggle to protect their island home from invasion from Mainland Greece, and survive the catastrophic 1628 BC explosion of the nearby island of Santorini. Judith Hand has combined painstaking historical research with a flair for dramatic story telling that truly emerses the reader into a time of Bronze Age high culture and a sophisticated society of Mediterranean goddess-worship of Crete as it existed 1600 years before the birth of Christ. Voice Of The Goddess is Hand's debut as a novelist and we can only look urgently for her next venture into historic fiction.

Even if I were not somewhat obsessed with the 18th Dynasty and the Minoan world, Judith Hand's thoroughly researched and re-created sea battles - and the details of private life - would easily have made this one of my favorite reads of the past two years. This is an absolutely delightful first novel, by an archaeologist-author who really does have the potential to become literary heir to James Michener. y