Abigail: A Novel (The Wives of King David)

Loved it! I like reading books of this nature, even though it's fiction. It still gives me a deeper sense of the Bible characters I love so much. I've read this entire series and I would love to read more.

I am very interested in Biblical fiction at this point in my life. These stories, even though fictional "flesh out" what I read in scripture, and give me a better idea of the customs and culture of the times. I happen to be studying the old testament right now, and this has enriched my understanding even more.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical Christian fiction. Not too far into the book I felt i knew each character personally. I was a great read! I look forward to reading the remaining books about David's wives.

Abigail is Jill Eileen Smith's second installment in her series on the wives of King David. Although the second book builds on the first, Michal, it easily stands on its own. You do not have to read the first book to enjoy the second (although, if you're unfamiliar with the Biblical account of David's life, you may be a bit puzzled by the references to the absent character of Michal in the second book).

As in her first book, Smith sticks close to the Biblical account, and yet still manages to flesh out the story, filling in the parts that the Bible doesn't tell with a narrative that is well thought out and plausible. Both Michal and Abigail are bittersweet tales of women whose lives ultimately lacked contentment and fulfillment as we regard it in our 21st century Western culture. Indeed, Smith's story made me look at Abigail in a way I had never considered before. She is the only one of David's wives whose character is spoken of in a positive light in the Scriptures, and until reading this book my consideration of her story ran along pretty limited lines; she was a woman of honorable character, married to a churl (the Bible calls him a fool), whose act of bravery saved his life. Then, when the boor was struck down and died (yay!), the beautiful Abigail was free and the handsome King-to-be David offered for her hand. Of course she accepted (who wouldn't?), and got to live happily ever after as a beloved and noble wife of Israel's greatest king.

Smith, however, peels away the rosy film and makes us take a realistic look at Abigail's story, showing us the very human emotions of the very real woman. We see instead the loneliness that plagued her entire adult life, as both of her husbands failed to give her the love she longed for (her first husband would not and her second husband could not). I realized (how come it never occurred to me before?) that Abigail, like every other one of David's wives (except for Bathsheba) was chosen for the strategic advantage she could bring to David's kingship. Yes, every one of them were beautiful as well (he certainly wouldn't have chosen them otherwise), but they were really little more than political alliances for the purpose of strengthening David's power (and of course, bringing him pleasure in the bargain). Abigail wasn't the daughter of royalty and so had no political appeal for David, but the wealth left her by her first husband no doubt added luster to her physical beauty, and was a strong incentive for David to take her as his wife, especially at that crucial time in his life.

Abigail's struggles with loneliness, jealousy and insecurity resonated strongly with me; at times I could totally feel her pain, as I have felt it myself too many times in my own life. And yet, I never could quite connect solidly with her; my empathy with her was sporadic, rather than sustained, and it wasn't quite strong enough to overcome some of the other weaknesses in the book.

Plot-wise, Abigail is much stronger than Michal. It never feels contrived, there are no jerky time-skips where the characters' feelings and emotions change without explanation. Abigail's interactions with other females (namely Ahinoam) showed an improvement, as they didn't have the flat, adolescent cat-fighting feel of the early part of Michal's story (when she was spatting with her older sister Merab). However, in Abigail David's character was lackluster; I don't know if it was the author's intention or not, but I found myself not liking him all that much. Part of it can't be helped, given the situation with his many wives (as explained above), but he didn't even seem all that brave or intelligent as a leader, either. More often it seemed to be his assistants and mighty men who came up with the bright ideas, and who pointed out the flaws in David's ideas. It's been a year since I've read Michal, but I don't recall feeling this ambivalence towards David when reading that book; and to be honest, I was a bit uncomfortable with it. I wanted David to have some redeeming quality to make me like him (so that I could understand and reconcile myself to Abigail's lot in life), but I couldn't quite find it. In spite of his frequent reflections to himself and to Abigail that he wished she were his only wife, I found his actions spoke loudest of all and his words failed to convince me. I can't bring myself to use the word "cad" to describe King David, but he did uncomfortably remind me of some of the men I have known and who have caused me pain!

Smith seems to have a penchant for creating emotionally climactic endings for her books. And while she was highly successful at doing so in Michal (her couldn't-put-the-book-down ending made up for the many other flaws in the book) , she was less successful in Abigail. It just didn't touch my emotions, probably because I just couldn't really see David going after Abigail the way he did, and because his words felt shallow and hollow to my ears (especially knowing what's coming down the road, that David will take at least one more wife -- Bathsheba -- and Abigail is therefore destined for more heartbreak).

Taken together, the books are an interesting and well-thought out look at the lives of David's wives (and at his life, as well). I don't regard Jill Eileen Smith as the strongest of writers -- in places she tends to load up too much on adjectives, for one thing -- and this book took me twice as long to finish as it should have, as I found it all to easy to put it down to get up and do something else. Nevertheless, I would have no problem recommending her books. I do plan to buy and read the final book in this series, as I am curious to see how she treats the very dramatic story of Bathsheba. But once this series is finished I am not certain if I would buy or read any more by this author.