4 out of 4 stars
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Into the Hand of a Woman by Carla C. Ohse is a romance novel loosely based on the biblical story of Deborah and Barak. Deborah Miller is an American judge with a big heart. In one of her court cases, she encounters a young Israeli woman named Jordana who is desperate for a divorce from her older American husband. Upon further enquiries, Deborah finds out that there is a slave trafficking camp in Israel where Jordana, her sister Jael, and many other women were kept in inhumane conditions. Deborah, who is also part Jewish, learns that Jordana was a child bride trafficked to the USA from Israel. The trafficking camp is led by the dreaded Sergeant JB Sisera.
Taking a leap of faith and not much more, Deborah decides to go to Israel to see what she can do to help the other unfortunate women in the camp. However, Deborah finds out that she’s woefully unprepared for the abundant misogyny in Israel and the horrors she finds in the trafficking camp. With the help of the military guide assigned to her, Lieutenant Barak ‘Barry’ Cohen, Deborah will learn a lot about love, resilience, and trusting God even in the most impossible of situations.
This book will take you on a spiritual journey. Deborah tells her story in the first-person narrative, and the intensity of her faith is nothing short of amazing. Her empathy and bravery are also commendable. I liked how the author used real-life situations to build an intricate tale from the biblical story. The plight of the women in the trafficking camp will tug at your heartstrings. Although this book is fictional, I also liked that the author raised awareness that some women are currently living this reality.
Although this book was classified as a romance, there is no hint of it until about the middle. When the romance eventually came, it felt very rushed and downplayed. I wished the author had expatiated on this. All in all, this book was a good read. It was fast-paced and very unpredictable. There were many times I wondered how it would end. There were some typographical errors, but not enough to deduct a star. As a result, I’m giving it a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.
If you like faith-based novels with a hint of romance, then this book will be a good fit for you. However, it contains some scenes of graphic violence that may not be suitable for some readers.
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Into the Hand of a Woman
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