"My name would be remembered. It would be written down in the manner of kings."

"I wonder sometimes if all that came might have been avoided if I had trembled. If what they wanted was for me to be like their women. To be afraid of the dark."

Jezebel has gone down in history as a harlot queen, patron to false prophets. In her new book, Megan Barnard attempts to give back a voice to a woman who has only been spoken of by men. While reading her story, you can't help but root for Jezebel. Regardless of your feelings on her motivations, you cannot deny that Jezebel is a strong woman who is determined to achieve her goals despite the influence and ire of the men surrounding her.

This book reminded me a lot of Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel, which was one of my favorite reads of last year. In both, the evil queen is given her own voice and allowed to tell her own story. Jezebel is remembered as the villain in a man's story, whispering in the ear of her husband to tempt him into betraying God. In her own story, Jezebel is desperate to be remembered as herself. She is avid in her desire to mold Israel into a great country, modeled after her own home country of Tyre. I struggled to identify with Jezebel while I was reading. Some of her choices and motivations felt so strange to me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m unfamiliar with much of the source material or if there was just a disconnect for me while I was reading. Regardless, I did enjoy this story and I would recommend you read it if you enjoyed other books such as Patel's Kaikeyi, Madeline Miller's Circe, Jennifer Saint's Elektra, or any other retelling where a woman was given back her voice.

A spellbinding retelling, Jezebel belongs on the shelf with Haynes and Miller. I knew from the first page that Megan Barnard had created something special- a retelling of the biblical Jezebel with timeless themes of the role of women, responsibilities of power and influence, and the consequences of underestimating how far people will go for their beliefs. Beautifully written and immensely satisfying, this is everything I want in a book.

I’m not 100% familiar with the biblical version of Jezebel I briefly remember her story from the Bible. This version of Jezebel was interesting to say the least but it was still a great story! This is one of those books where it’s hard to put it down.

I will be the first to say I have never read the biblical account of Jezebel, but I do have a basic understanding that she wasn't well liked and did bad things. I enjoy reading books that take female figures in history that have received a bad reputation and make them more sympathetic to the reader.

From the first chapter I was hooked. I wanted to know more about this strong, determined young woman. There was a nice balance of strength and vulnerability in her character. She refused to be a nameless woman like her mother and wanted her name remembered throughout time. The book was a quick read that kept my attention.

i have...complicated feelings about the decisions made regarding the changes to the biblical narrative (mainly the decision to make elijah a jilted lover, like...okay. i get it, but...uh. feel weird about it.) but apart from that it was fine. some weak points that are mainly due to how short it was (many missed opportunities to flesh out the story, particularly in what, exactly, jezebel did to improve israel, and her relationship with ahab) but like, you know, it was fine