Have you ever read the story of Potiphar's wife in the Bible? I suppose I have (because I've read the Bible cover to cover before), but it was not a story that I remembered. Mesu Andrews' novel Potiphar's Wife takes the story and expands it to weave a fictional tale that gives an explanation to the wife's actions - and gives her a name.
When Princess Zuleika's home in Crete is destroyed by an earthquake, killing her mother and her husband, Zuleika offers herself as a bride to the Egyptian Pharaoh in exchange for the funds to help Crete rebuild. But the Pharaoh doesn't want another wife - he already has two - so he accepts Zuleika as a bride to the captain of his bodyguards, Potiphar. Thus begins a dark time in Zuleika's life, alone in a strange land married to a man she didn't want to marry and wishing she could just go home. Her only friends are Ahira, her maidservant, and Joseph, Potiphar's chamberlain. Zuleika is desperate to find a way back to Crete, so desperate that she'll do anything.
Through it all, she keeps hearing about Elohim, Ahira and Joseph's God. Can Zuleika see her way out of her darkness and see her place in God's plan?
I would highly recommend reading a physical copy of this book instead of an e-book because there is a guide to who the characters are in the very beginning, and with a physical book, it would be easier to flip back to that guide whenever you can't remember who someone is. There are A LOT of characters. You're never going to keep them all straight.
I like that the author created a new story for "one of the Bible's most infamous women", but the original story has Zuleika lusting after Joseph, and I gotta be honest - I wasn't really getting that vibe from this novel. There wasn't a whole lot of build-up to that. There were two episodes where Zuleika asked Joseph to "bed her" and he refused, and each time it just seemed so random.
That said, I enjoyed reading about Egyptian history, especially because my husband and I were watching the Disney+ series "Moon Knight", which takes place in Egypt and involves Egyptian gods, so it was cool to understand the references in the show thanks to this novel's historical explanations.
Potiphar's Wife is published by Waterbrook Press and will be available to purchase tomorrow! I received a free e-ARC in exchange for this review.
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