Olive Tree on hillside
 

 SYNOPSIS: An epic battle pitted the forces of a depraved king against the army that brought down, literally, the most powerful city of the region. In the battlefield clean-up the seventeen-year-old son of the master potter rescues a wounded friend forced to serve in the evil tyrant's army. While Eskie helps his friend, the expert archer of Jerusalem, return home and rescue his father in the palace dungeon, he fights an inner battle between his father's faith and his own belief in self-reliance and brute force. Along the way he gathers an unlikely band of heroes including the son of a thief, a deaf sandal-maker and a lonely giant. And then there is Pickle Girl—a saucy independent young lady named for a thorny bush whose pickled buds provide a welcome condiment for wild game.

 

ENDORSEMENTS

"Peggy Miracle Consolver has used her deep and intimate knowledge of the Middle East to make the story of Joshua's victories more than three thousand years ago come alive. She has crafted a very plausible and exciting story of a Gibeonite family and friends who started as enemies of Joshua but who became staunch friends and strong believers in the God of the Israelites. The exploits of the young hero Eskie will stir the blood while giving the reader a good feel for this ancient land, for its ways of wars, for its foods, and for its handiworks. I thoroughly enjoyed The Star Namer and the Unchosen. An excellent read!" John A. Warden III, Colonel USAF (retired); president of Venturist, Inc.; and author of Winning in FastTime and The Air Campaign, (Chief strategist for General Norman Swarzkopf in Desert Storm, 1990-91)