"The Dream Diviner" by Charity Bishop

It's been a while since I read a Charity Bishop book, mainly because her last few books have been horror-ish fantasy and that is not my jam.  So I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her new historical fiction book, because I love her historical fiction.

The Dream Diviner does not disappoint.  It's the first in a new Biblical fiction series called The Claudia Chronicles that will fictionally explore the life of Claudia Procula, wife of Pontius Pilate.  Charity Bishop wrote a book about this same historical figure ten years ago, but realized she had a lot more to say about Claudia and wanted to delve more deeply into the world she inhabited.  Well, that's great news for all of us who enjoy Biblical fiction, because it means we have lots of good stuff coming our way, beginning with this book!

In this fictional imagining of what her life could have been like, Claudia is the illegitimate daughter of Roman Emperor Tiberius's wife.  Not his daughter, but his wife's daughter.  Tiberius likes her anyway, and his heir Drusus loves her like a full sister, so Claudia lives at the palace.  Drusus's wife Livilla hates Claudia, mostly because Livilla's son Gemellus loves Claudia more.  Claudia is kind, sensible, and warm-hearted, so it's not hard to see why her little nephew loves her... or why the resourceful and ambitious soldier Lucius Pilate grows to love her too.

Claudia often has disturbing dreams that obviously contain meanings about future events, but she can never decipher them in time to make the dreams useful.  She seeks out wise men and teachers of many faiths in hopes that they will help her interpret these dreams.  When she listens to a Jewish teacher, Avram, she realizes he could be the one to help her.  While seeking his guidance for interpreting her dreams, she comes to believe that the God he worships, Adonai, is the one true God.  She stops worshiping all the Roman gods she grew up with, but her decision comes at great cost.

Bishop excels at writing about palace intrigue and politics in a way that humanizes them and keeps me invested, and she uses that ability to great effect here.  I never got lost in who was conniving against whom, or which person was planning to trick which other person.  That's not always the case for me and books that involve a lot of that, so I think it's a testament to Bishop's writing that I remain engaged and unconfused.

Particularly Good Bits:

"If Adonai gave you these dreams, it is to call you to him, not to make you a seer for Rome.  He is a jealous God.  He will not share you with idols of stone."

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for mentions of illegitimate children and extramarital affairs, plus violence and a scene of flogging as punishment.  No cussing and no smut.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, but was not asked or required to review it.  All opinions are my own.