Book Review: Bread of Angels

I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of heavy books, and I needed something lighthearted, not true, and easy to read.

I struggle with fiction because much of today’s fiction is somewhat trashy. While classic fiction is great, it isn’t always the best when you’ve had a heavy day and want to just veg. So I needed something a little light, but clean.

A few years ago, I read a historical fiction book set in Corinth focusing on Priscilla and Aquila. The book was clean and wholesome, and while, obviously not true, gave life to a couple from the Bible that is well known.

Knowing that the author wrote a “safe” book that held me captivated, I decided it was worth looking the author up. I found another one of her novels, Bread of Angels. Tessa Afshar expertly expands upon the stories of minor characters in the Bible, using facts from the time to give plausible possibilities of what the circumstances may have been.

In Bread of Angels, she creates a backstory for Lydia that is not only plausible, but interesting. Having just studied Lydia briefly in Twelve Extraordinary Women, I knew that not much was really known about Lydia, but that there were some specific facts that were known: she was not married, but older, and she was a seller of purple cloth that was highly sought after, which also made her quite wealthy.

In Bread of Angels, Afshar starts the story years earlier in Thyatira, where she and her father run a dye shop. She and her father get entangled in a bad business deal, which eventually causes Lydia to leave Thyatira for Phillipi.

When she does, she is able to launch her business with a friend she met along the way and the mother of a rich general, who had previously purchased purple cloth from her father. Her shop starts small, but as time passes, she is able to build a great reputation and build her business, eventually becoming one of the most successful sellers of purple in the area.

Because she is a woman, never married, and with no father, this causes strife with another merchant in the dyers guild. But, throughout this, she and her friend, Rebekah, continue to visit with the other Jewish believers in the area near the river.

One day, while at the river, they encounter Paul, Timothy, Luke, and Marcus. As Paul takes the opportunity to preach, she realizes what he is saying must be true, and her heart is prompted to ask more questions, and take the step of faith to be baptized.

This is where Afshar’s story veers slightly from the Bible. In the Bible, it tells us that her whole household is baptized as well, but in Bread of Angels, she tells her household that she wants them each to make the decision for themselves, and many do while Paul and his crew are visiting and staying with her.

While Paul and the others are there, she faces more issues with the other merchant. Paul advises her through some of this, as do some of the other characters.

While there does end up being a love story in Afshar’s book, it is so minimal and hardly there, that I barely count it. Over all, I appreciate the cleanliness of the book, and love the way that Afshar brought this minor (but important) character to life. Historically speaking, she kept on par with a lot that I learned in Twelve Extraordinary Women, and added a lot of rich details to the story.

If you need a light, interesting, and clean read, this is a great choice! I already have a few of her other books added to my “To Be Read” list!

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