Bread of Angels by Tessa Afshar

Bread of Angels by Tessa Afshar ISBN-13: 9781496406477 Paperback: 375 pages Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers Released: June 6, 2017

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Purple. The foundation of an influential trade in a Roman world dominated by men. One woman rises up to take the reins of success in an incredible journey of courage, grit, and friendship. And along the way, she changes the world.

But before she was Lydia, the seller of purple, she was simply a merchant's daughter who loved three things: her father, her ancestral home, and making dye. Then unbearable betrayal robs her of nearly everything.

With only her father's secret formulas left, Lydia flees to Philippi and struggles to establish her business on her own. Determination and serendipitous acquaintances--along with her father's precious dye--help her become one of the city's preeminent merchants. But fear lingers in every shadow, until Lydia meets the apostle Paul and hears his message of hope, becoming his first European convert. Still, Lydia can't outrun her secrets forever, and when past and present collide, she must either stand firm and trust in her fledgling faith or succumb to the fear that has ruled her life.


My Review:
Bread of Angels is a Biblical novel about Lydia's life up to and shortly after she meets Paul in Acts. The main theme of the story was fear. Lydia constantly worried about what could go wrong, partly due to something that happened to her mother when Lydia was very young.

I could see what was coming regarding what happened to make Lydia move to Philippi. Some of Lydia's actions didn't make sense to me as it seemed so obvious to me what was going on from the start, but her actions may have been simply because she was young and a bit naive.

Lydia befriends a Hebrew woman who teaches her about God, which is why she was with the women meeting at the river. The author wove the events that happened to Paul into Lydia's story in a way that forces her to face her fears and learn to trust God in times of trouble. The characters reacted to events in realistic ways, and I cared about what happened to them.

Historical and cultural details were woven into the story and helped drive the narrative. These details seemed fairly accurate, though it's my understanding that the patron-client relationship was more binding than the author implied that it was. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I highly recommend this enjoyable and insightful novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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