This week I’m hosting Debby Mayne with Sweet Baklava, Diane Burke with Double Identity, and Jill Eileen Smith with Bathsheba. If you want to enter the drawings, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (March 20th) evening.
Interview with the heroine with Bathsheba by Jill Eileen Smith:
1. Bathsheba, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I do not think of myself as interesting. I am the only daughter of a captain in King David’s elite military forces – The Thirty. My husband, Uriah, is also among those chosen Thirty. My grandfather is counselor to the king. But I have no children, which in my culture means I have no purpose.
2. What do you do for fun?
I am not sure I understand the question. Life is work and rest, trial and joy and sorrow. We have festivals where we dance and sing, and the women will often celebrate when the men return from war. But fun? I have not heard of this word.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I often keep thoughts to myself. It is not that I do not trust Uriah. He is a good man. But he does not always understand the deep loneliness I feel when he is gone. Perhaps I dread the reaction he will give me if I complain too much.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
I fear being alone. With Uriah and my father often at war, I live with the possibility that they may be killed and never come home. If they do not come home, I do not know what I will do. Grandfather would find another husband for me, but what if I do not like his choice? I fear their protectiveness sometimes.
5. What do you want out of life?
To bear Uriah a son. A son, or even a daughter, would give my life meaning.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
To feel secure in Uriah’s love. Oh, I know that there is no doubt he cares deeply for me. It is just…if the king would stop sending the troops to war, then my husband would be home and I would feel safe.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
My father had no son to carry on his name, and my mother died giving birth to me, so my father indulged me and allowed tutors to teach me to read and write. The king’s palace contains many scrolls, and my father owns one copy of the law, but I do not read it often. We have no other writings in our home. The Law is enough.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would wish for greater contentment. I know it hurts Uriah to see me grieve when he leaves. But I miss him so! If I had a child, I would be content.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Uriah keeps a small flock of sheep and goats on his property outside of Jerusalem, but I do not see them, and have never kept a lamb in our courtyard. Some say King David cared for some of his lambs like a man would care for a daughter, back when he lived as a shepherd, long before he became king. I do not know these things. They are simply rumors.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I do not understand this time travel? But if I could live my life differently, I would like the ability to make my own choices. I have never had that privilege. Still, if I had to choose a man to marry all over again, I would have agreed with Father’s choice. Uriah is a good man, a loyal man. And I love him.
