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The Singer and Her Song (Empire at Twilight Book 2) by [N.L. Holmes]

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N.L. Holmes

The Singer and Her Song (Empire at Twilight Book 2) Kindle Edition

by N.L. Holmes (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

46 ratings

Book 2 of 4: Empire at Twilight

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Uqnitum is a singer from a famous musical lineage in the kingdom of Mitanni. When the fall of their city to the Assyrians costs her the life of her husband and her youngest child, she and her pregnant, widowed daughter flee to the court of Ugarit. Haunted by guilt over her part in her husband’s death, Uqnitum’s increasingly unhinged personality becomes dangerous to the peace of her remaining family. Only by succumbing to her weakness does she learn the real nature of strength.

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Publication date

May 6, 2020
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4299 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

One of the things that impressed me most was the close narration and commitment to character, which brings us into Uqnitum's head as she struggles with her own personality issues and the vast changes to her life that she cannot cope with. The novel is, at its heart, a deeply personal journey that we are privy to, and overall I would highly recommend The Singer and Her Song as a character-driven, immersive historical work that any fan of accomplished family drama will enjoy. 5/5 stars--Readers' Favorite ReviewThe Singer and Her Song is a gripping story that has a great plot and well developed characters. The book is thrilling and would be a delight to watch if adapted into a movie. 5/5 stars
-- ILoveUniqueBooks ReviewTHESINGER AND HER SONG is a somber delight; a well-researched novel thatbrings to life the very human characters caught in a time of war andtragedy, yet equally at the mercy of their own foibles and forced tofind a way to survive tangled interpersonal relationships.4.5/5stars-- Indie Reader Review

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0888T544R
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 6, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4299 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe

Best Sellers Rank: #994,057 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5,414 in Family Life Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #23,608 in Family Life Fiction (Books)

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46 ratings

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N.L. Holmes

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N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel, and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun.

The inspiration for her Bronze Age novels came with an assignment she gave to her students one day: here are the only documents we have telling us about a certain royal divorce in Ugarit in the 13th century. How much can we say about what happened? It quickly became apparent that almost anything we might come up with was as much fiction as historiography!

Today, since their son is grown, she lives with her husband, three cats and a dog. They split their time between Florida and northern France, where she gardens, weaves, plays the violin, dances, and occasionally drives a jog-cart. And reads, of course.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5

46 global ratings

5 star		42%
4 star		27%
3 star		25%
2 star		6%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Joel Epstein

Was the distant past really like this?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 13, 2020

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One of the difficult questions that the writer of historical fiction must answer is: how much are the people in my book like us? Back then, 100 or 500 or 2000 years ago, did people think and feel and act like we do? Did they have the same whims, make the same sorts of decisions, love and hate and choose like us? or were they somehow different? And the further back in time the book reaches, the more compelling this question becomes.

Author N.L. Holmes, in her book "The Singer and her Song", answers this question unequivocally: they are just like us. Set in the 14th century BC, the book tells the story of refugees from the ancient Mesopotamian land of Mittani, a little-known nation wiped out by the Assyrians. The refugees are musicians, and the Mittanians are highly respected throughout the region for their musical skills.

The people in this book are just like us, even disturbingly so. The refugees are a dysfunctional family: the mother nasty and overbearing, the sons estranged, the pregnant widowed daughter caught in the mother's compulsive and abusive ego. The characters act out of the same, often irrational, motivations that we do: fear, anger, betrayal, pity. There is a plot to overthrow the king. The conspirators scheme and act out of the same forces of greed and ambition that drive modern-day rebels.

In fact, you could take these characters and this plot and transplant it to Victorian England or modern New Hampshire, and only the names would have to change.

When I began to read, I found this modernity to be jarring. I found myself constantly arguing. After all, we are used to thinking about ancient peoples as they appear in ancient texts: in stilted language, verses that glorify rulers, praise the gods and deify the abundance and the paucity of nature. But as I read, I found myself convinced by Ms. Holmes's description. After all, dysfunctional families are not a modern invention; daughters have bickered with mothers, employees have been disgruntled, and the rich have been selfish and arrogant since time immemorial.

I thank Ms. Holmes for introducing me to a country (Mittani) and language (Hurrian) that I didn't know about; and, most importantly, to a musical culture that was highly developed.

Joel Epstein, author of "The Language of the Heart" https://www.amazon.com/Language-Heart-musical-fantastical-journey-ebook/dp/B07S6BRVYM

3 people found this helpful

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Gauffroi

Good Portrayal of Musicians’ Lives but Technical Issues with Kindle Edition

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 24, 2022

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My only comment on the book’s content is that Ms. Holmes must have had some background in the performing arts (although her LinkedIn profile doesn’t disclose much of anything, the bio in the book says she plays the violin), because her portrayal of the daily life of a performing musician is very accurate (including that of the vocal ensemble director, who—like all sub-elite music directors—has to engage in a constant balancing act between soothing artists’ sensitive egos, satisfying patrons’ wants/needs and selecting and preparing music which is satisfying enough for the musicians yet fulfills the needs of the performance occasion). I was also intrigued by the book’s reference to a Hatti “military band”—my research didn’t unearth anything, but it would be very interesting to know if the author based this on historical evidence for such a “band.” I was annoyed by a technical issue in the Kindle edition that could easily have been avoided with a bit more care in production: in several instances, the back-and-forth between the author and a proofreader or copy editor was included as footnotes. For example, at Loc 5492 of 6245 appear footnotes [.3] and [.4], which consists of a question about wording by the editor and a response from the author. There are 8 such footnotes included, which of course should not appear in the finished edition. (Based on these footnotes, it does reveal that the book was in process in 2018, 3 years before it was published. I would guess based on the writing that it predated Holmes’s Lord Hani Mysteries series.)

One person found this helpful

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Sammy G.

Amazing read!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 25, 2022

What an epic read! Very similar to GoT where there are descriptive storylines and background stories for multiple characters. Love the development of the story all throughout. Definitely has some shocking moments that left my mouth agape.

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Dvitz

Series not a good as the Egyptian Lord Hani

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 16, 2021

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Read this after the Lord Hani series by the same author. This series is very different, almost as if written by someone else. The books have only minor connections to each other and are very slow-paced. Gave up after the second one.

One person found this helpful

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mauireader

A tragic tale of love and loss

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 3, 2021

I found myself immersed in this story, There was much sadness and pain, but also hope and happiness. The main character, beneath her rough and ready, and very challenging, exterior was a woman that wanted order, right and fairness in her life, a struggle for control. At first I did not did like the heroine of the story very well, but I understood her better as the story went on and things fell into place. A bit slow paced in a few spots but well worth the read. A very well written story with such interesting history from so long ago. The writing is descriptive and flows well, it is easy to feel like the reader is right there, in the landscape, it was a whirlwind of life events. There is plenty of sadness and violence in the story as one would expect for the time period. This was a story that brought me to tears both sad and happy. This book has ties to the other books in this series, but it is a full length stand alone read. I felt that the author did a great job of research to be able to pull this off. I received this book for free and voluntarily reviewed.

One person found this helpful

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1motts

The Singer’s Sad Life

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 23, 2022

This story takes place around 1235 BC; however, the characters speak modern language, such as, “pregnant,” “Grandma,” “snippy,” “have a fling,” “girlie,” “Dad,” etc. I found this type of modern language for an ancient story bothersome.

The graphic violence at the beginning of the book is gruesome and difficult to read.

Ugnitum and the her husband and children are musicians. She is a woman strong in stature and character. She is estranged from her two eldest sons, and after fleeing from the Assyrians, she and her daughter find a new home. Ugnitum’s confrontational manner rules her “new” life and results in loneliness and unhappiness.

I am voluntarily reviewing this book after receiving it free from the author.

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