Solomon's Song - Song of Solomon, Bk 2 Author:Roberta Kells Dorr With Solomon's Song, award-winning novelist Roberta Kells Dorr continues the dramatic saga of the House of David. This is the story of Solomon, aspiring successor to the throne, and Shulamit, the woman who inspired the biblical Song of Songs. Here, as in David and Bathsheba, Dorr brings the romance and ... more »color of the Bible and of early Israel to vivid life.
The story opens on the eighteenth birthday of Solomon — the son of King David of Judea and Bathsheba. Solomon is David's favorite son and hopes to become king one day, as the prophet Nathan predicted, even though the king's eldest son, Adonijah, is in direct line for the throne. Adonijah, cunning and ambitious, plots to insure that Solomon will never rule.
Drought and famine have struck Judea. The people look to King David for relief, wondering whether he is too old to rule effectively. To quell their fears and prove David's strength, it is decided that a young wife be added to his harem. With her son Solomon, Bathsheba travels the country to choose a young maiden for the king.
In Shunem, Bessim keeps his daughter Shulamit hidden while he hosts a royal party. But one day Solomon disguises himself as a royal servant in order to roam the fields quietly and discovers Shulamit dressed as a shepherdess. They fall in love, each thinking the other is someone else. Only when Bathsheba picks Shulamit from among all the village virgins do they learn the truth about each other.
Heartbroken, Solomon begs his mother to let him marry Shulamit. Bathsheba, however, has other plans. More than anything, she desires Solomon to be the next king, for if Solomon becomes king then by royal law he will someday be reunited with the woman he loves. As David grows weaker, the determined Adonijah begins an intense battle for the crown, and for the love of Shulamit.
Solomon's Song is a vibrant, epic novel of love, power, and intrigue set in an age when the kingdom of Judea, after a bitter struggle, was about to reach its zenith under Solomon.« less