From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, YEAR OF WONDERS and MARCH comes a unique and vivid novel that retells the story of King David's extraordinary rise to power and fall from grace.
1000 BC. The Second Iron Age. The time of King David.
Anointed as the chosen one when just a young shepherd boy, David will rise to be king, grasping the throne and establishing his empire. But his journey is a tumultuous one and the consequences of his choices will resound for generations. In a life that arcs from obscurity to fame, he is by turns hero and traitor, glamorous young tyrant and beloved king, murderous despot and remorseful, diminished patriarch. His wives love and fear him, his sons will betray him. It falls to Natan, the courtier and prophet who both counsels and castigates David, to tell the truth about the path he must take.
With stunning originality, acclaimed author Geraldine Brooks offers us a compelling portrait of a morally complex hero from this strange age - part legend, part history. Full of drama and richly drawn detail, THE SECRET CHORD is a vivid story of faith, family, desire and power that brings David magnificently alive.
'a masterly reworking of what fiction and history have afforded Brooks' vibrant and questing imagination' - THE AGE on MARCH
'A single shard of historical fact, a well-worn artefact ... can send her off to the archives to coax fiction from the seams of history in ways that seem almost miraculous to fans and critics alike.' - NEW ZEALAND HERALD
Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in Sydney's western suburbs. In 1982 she won a scholarship to the journalism master's program at Columbia University in New York. Later she worked for the WALL STREET JOURNAL, where she covered crises in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. In 2006 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for her novel MARCH. Her novels CALEB'S CROSSING and PEOPLE OF THE BOOK were both NEW YORK TIMES bestsellers, and YEAR OF WONDERS and PEOPLE OF THE BOOK are international bestsellers, translated into more than 25 languages. She is also the author of the acclaimed non-fiction works NINE PARTS OF DESIRE and FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. In 2011 she presented Australia's prestigious Boyer Lectures, later published as THE IDEA OF HOME. In 2016 she was appointed Officer in the Order of Australia for her services to literature, and THE SECRET CHORD was shortlisted for the Indy Awards, chosen by Australia's independent booksellers.
Geraldine Brooks lives in Massachusetts with her husband, author Tony Horwitz, and their two sons.
Industry Reviews
Geraldine Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive. - The Washington Post
Brooks evokes time and place with keenly drawn detail ... with the verve of an adroit storyteller ... Ambitious and psychologically astute. - Publishers Weekly
a thundering, gritty, emotionally devastating reconsideration of the story of King David - New York Times Book Review
Mesmerising - The Australian Women's Weekly
George R.R. Martin's got nothing on the biblical chroniclers of David, King of Israel ... This is the original GAME OF THRONES. - Miami Herald
THE SECRET CHORD is powerful storytelling, its landscape and time evoked in lyrical prose ... Brooks has crafted from THE SECRET CHORD a compelling read, contemporary in its relevance. - The Guardian Australia
A skillful reimagining ... gracefully and intelligently told. - Kirkus Reviews
Rich and imaginative ... David is as compelling as he is contradictory. We feel his desires and understand his mistakes. - Minneapolis Star Tribune
