Drawing in the Dust

Lyrical, dazzling, emotionally gripping. Drawing in the Dust is a phenomenal achievement. Every night as I finished a chapter, I would sit awake, struggling between going to sleep so it would take me more nights to finish the book and prolong the joy I felt reading it, or reading just one more chapter. WOW! Drawing in the Dust

Words can not express how deeply and wonderfully the novel, Drawing in the Dust, has affected me! The optimism, the joy, the sheer love of life which Ms. Klein's words trigger are a gift beyond anything material. Drawing in the Dust is one woman's spiritual and emotional journey as she embarks on an archaeological adventure which could make or break her career. Her character, significantly named Page, takes us with her on an exploration of the Torah, modern Israel, Judaism, and the fascinating world of Biblical Archaeology. Along the way, you will meet an Arab human rights lawyer, an orthodox Jew who served in the military, and a variety of other wonderfully eccentric characters. Ms. Klein crafts a novel filled with symbolism, philosophy, politics, and religion. Yet, at no time does this book become preachy or pedantic. Before reading Drawing in the Dust, the book of Jeremiah seemed so negative and bleak to me. His prophecy, while often couched in beautiful poetry, was one of gloom and doom. His life was lonely and filled with travails. By mirroring the book of Jeremiah with the fictional Scroll of Anatiya, Ms.Klein has exposed new dimensions for thought and reflection and awakened so many possibilities. I am particularly entranced by the dichotomies in this book: light versus dark, life versus death, spiritual versus physical. And as a Catholic as well as an artist, the notion that the three colors represent the Holy Trinity just blew me away! I was especially moved by how Mortichai point out that in the world of light the whole spectrum is refracted from one color. I was so excited by this passage that I pulled my husband aside to read it to him, passing on that spark of thought. I have often thought that fiction is in some way its own reality which is just as important as the mundane world. Drawing in the Dust verifies this for me. Ms. Klein's message is beautiful and I am one who truly appreciates every word.

Plot Summary: Page Brookstone is a fully fleshed character, and at the ripe age of forty she's built an impressive career as an archeologist and biblical scholar. Her relationship with her boss and mentor is on the skids, and Page sees an opportunity to escape the awkwardness when an Arab couple finds a cistern beneath their home. This couple has been mocked by every reputable archeologist in Israel, because they insist their house is haunted by spectral lovers. Page isn't buying the ghost stories, but the cistern soon proves to be a treasure trove of Tutankhamun proportions. This book smells like an Oprah Book Club pick, but HA! -- it has a happy ending, so I guess it'll have a different fate. Oprah likes the stuff that makes us sniff and snivel, and although this book didn't make me weep, I certainly felt a strong emotional bond to the story told here. I tend to gobble books quickly, but I savored this one slowly over two days, like nibbling at the corners of a pure dark chocolate bar in the hopes that it will last indefinitely. When Page climbs into the Arab couple's cistern, it's not so much a leap of faith, as a desperate scramble to escape. Her mentor has become sharp and bitter since Page gently denied his affections, and she's tumbling through a mid-life crisis that's fueled by her single, childless, and father-less existence. Her discovery of the treasures within the cistern ignite her passion for her work, and this new fire illuminates just how empty her personal life has been for years. From this point onward, two love stories unfold, one from the past and one in the present. The story of the prophet Jeremiah and his love, Anatiya, is revealed through Anatiya's lyrical voice preserved on a vellum scroll. During the excavation, Page begins to love an improbable kindred spirit, an Orthodox Jew whose religion stands as a tangible barrier to any physical intimacy, but the meeting of their hearts and minds cannot be stopped. During this forbidden love story, the fate of Anatiya's precious scroll turns in to a heart-thumping thriller. I felt like Page was a female Robert Langdon (from "The Da Vinci Code"), dodging and outwitting the forces that would smother Anatiya's voice, if not destroy it outright. I stand in awe of any novel that can combine poetry, suspense, romance, and self-discovery into a flawless package.

Zoe Klein's "Drawing in the Dust" starts off at Megiddo, with archaeologist Page Brookstone examining yet another set of infant remains and being somewhat dissatisfied with her lot. Enter Ibrahim and Naima, who have been visiting every archaeology site in the area to talk about the ghosts in their home. Dismissed as kooks by all and sundry, Ibrahim and Naima refuse to be dissuaded in their quest. Even Page sends them away, but then her curiosity gets the best of her. This curiosity leads her to an amazing archaeological find with tremendous implications: a coffin containing two intertwined skeletons and a jar with a previously unknown scroll by a female scribe named Anatiya. "Drawing in the Dust" is about more than Biblical archaeology. It touches on issues of Arab/Israeli/American relations, the nature of love, and even the nature of humanity. Klein's prose is elegant without being turgid. She draws beautiful pictures with her words. This book was a joy to read. (Review based on uncorrected advance proof.)