A fascinating read about a historical figure that I never had considered learning about before - it's the authors name that swung my choice here. A super informative read.

I've been a fan of novels retelling event from history/the bible for a long time - I read Diamant's Red Tent on publication back in 1997 and this one appealed instantly.
While it isn't quite a complete book due to being published posthumously and using letters and notes to fill in the gaps I found it really readable and it helped to link bits of history and literature that I was already aware of together and pull everything into a timeframe that really made sense to me. Due to the way the book has been put together I did find the first two thirds more detailed and engrossing, the last part did seem to cover a lot of ground very quickly and without the depth but it was still a really good read.
I will certainly be looking out for more of Neale Hurston's books.

It’s interesting to learn more about the figure of Herod the Great outside the limited and possibly false image we have of him from the Bible but I have to admit I found this book a little slow and difficult to engage with. I’m not quite clear if it’s because of the time it was written (the 1950s), an attempt to take a suitably historical tone or because it was unfinished and possibly unpolished by the author, but I personally found it a little slow and had to struggle to finish it (I will caveat that by saying the busy festive period was possibly not the best time to try and read something that required concentration!) Not my personal cup of tea, I’m afraid, but there was still a lot to admire in this book and I certainly learned a lot.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.