"If she's not out on this street two days from this minute, ready to go, it'll be your neck and hers. You understand?" With those words young Hadassah, also known as Esther, finds herself torn from her sheltered life with her cousin Mordecai, the housekeeper Rachel and Rachel's gradnson, Jesse. She gets pulled into the pampered life of a Queen-hopeful after Vashti, wife to the King of Persia, Xerxes, refuses to show up at a celebration adn is stripped of her title. Tempting as the life of luxury may have been, Hadassah stays true to her newfound faith in the God of her Hebrew ancestry while still preparing for her one night with the king that would change her life and earn her a book in the Bible.

Author Tommy Tenney also crosses time with this book, Hadassah's story read by a modern day Hadassah that's about to enbark on her own special night. The one confusing element of the historical accuracy of the swastika symbol in the story does nothing to detract from enjoying the depth Tenney gives to Esther and the other main characters or from the well-developed story line. It makes for a very pleasing read.