A few weeks ago, my daughter Nikki came for an overnight visit, and as always, she had a new book with her. Although she’s one of my biggest fans, our taste in fiction doesn’t often run along the same lines. She’s an eclectic reader whose only criteria is that the book she’s reading must be well-written and interesting.
On that particular day, she had the paperback copy of Connilyn Cossett’s Counted With the Stars: Out of Egypt Book 1. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve not read much biblical fiction. Or any biblical fiction, if I’m going to be totally transparent. But she raved about this particular novel, so I decided to get it for myself.
Here’s the back cover copy: Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all. To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus. She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she’s only just beginning to learn about, and in love with a man who despises her people. With everything she’s ever known swept away, will Kiya turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?
One of the reasons I’ve been hesitant to write historical fiction is because of the research involved to do a more than adequate job. There is so much written about the history of the United States, it must be a fairly easy task to set a story during the Civil War when compared to ancient Egypt. And yes, we have the Bible as a wonderful resource, but the details that this author includes goes far beyond what we find in the scriptures.
I was also impressed with how Ms. Cossett was able to make the plagues real to her readers. I feel as if I’ve read Exodus so many times, my senses don’t really take in the heaviness of each of these horrific experiences, but through Kiya’s eyes (and all her other senses as well) I got a true sense of what it must’ve been like.
Half of the story takes place in Egypt where we meet Kiya just as she’s sold into slavery by her own father. She goes from being an entitled rich girl with every conceivable comfort at her fingertips to being a slave to a petulant, vindictive woman. While in captivity, she meets a joyful Hebrew girl named Shira. This unlikely friendship takes us through the entire book.
The second half is the exodus itself and what a truly massive undertaking it must’ve been to lead millions of people into the wilderness. The author does a beautiful job of keeping the historical facts accurate while giving God’s chosen people a face to connect with. Sadly, we only meet Moses once—and it’s brief. When you consider the number of people traveling out of Egypt, is it any wonder Moses wasn’t in Kiya’s company? It wouldn’t have been realistic. But that one meeting was meaningful.
This novel has a little bit of everything—adventure, romance, mystery all wrapped up in beautiful writing. I highly recommend Counted With the Stars. And if you have Kindle Unlimited, you’ll be happy to know it’s available, although Book 2 (Shira’s story) is not. Hopefully that will change.
Five Stars
