Guest Review: Sand Daughter by Sarah Bryant

It is the time of the Crusades(1186 AD). The Islamic world is divided and the Franks have captured the Holy Land. As the mighty Saladin struggles to unite the warring clans of Arabia against the invaders, a young Bedouin woman faces danger—and discovers her own passion.

Khalidah is a woman of no obvious importance who faces an arranged, loveless marriage at the behest of her father. But when a mysterious stranger named Sulayman reveals the truth behind her impending union, she suddenly finds herself a pawn in a deadly plot involving her own feuding tribe and the powerful Knights Templar.

Faced with certain death, Khalidah runs away with a man she barely knows. Their journey, and the desire that grows between them, will thrust Khalidah into an unimaginable adventure. But she can’t escape the echoes of a past that somehow connect her to the Jinn—mysterious Afghan warriors who may hold the key to winning the imminent battle for the Holy Land.

My Thoughts: This is one of those books that defines what “historical fiction” really means. It is a story that is based in fact, with fictional characters of great depth that match well with the historical figures that cavort with them through these pages. It is a time of tremendous upheaval in the world, when the East and the West clash repeatedly over the “liberation” of the Holy Land from the infidel. The identity of the infidel depends on which side one fights. It is a story that demonstrates with great clarity the harrowing and often life-threatening manner that ordinary people are caught up in the machinations of powerful people, when life was cheap and the acquisition of territory was more important than anything else. It demonstrates with frightening illustration through scene after scene that the convictions based in one’s personal faith can form the foundation of foolish decisions that not only change one’s own life journey but which often bring an end to lives, families, societies and cultures. It is a book that is rife with greed and betrayal, duplicity and fear, while also telling the stories of Khalidah and Sulayman, Bilal and Salim, each a product of their own environment and whose lives become intertwined because of the desires and goals of others.

There are surprises here. The relationship between the Bedouin Bilal and Saladin’s youngest son Salim is tender and poignant; in many ways it is the making of the young Bilal. The initial distrust that surrounds Khalidah as she realizes that she is being betrayed by her uncle and cousin with the cooperation of her father, all because she is considered a “half-breed” (her sheikh father fell in love with and married one of the pagan Jinn) and as pawn in the power games of her uncle is in sharp contrast with the kindness and determination of Sulayman to save her life and lead her back to her mother’s people and her grandfather. As leader of the Jinn Tor Gul Khan wants Khalidah to know her maternal heritage and sees that she is trained as a Jinn warrior and made ready to assume the leadership of this Afghani people. The exploits of the Jinn are the stuff of legend, but they are real and historical and the author tells their story with just enough detail to make them live in these pages. Khalidah makes her first true female friends here in this new land, and she learns the meaning of loyalty, not just to a religious belief but to those who have proven their ability and willingness to put friendship before all else. As an avowed Muslim she is troubled by the beliefs of the Jinn, but through time and friendship she becomes as close to what we would call “ecumenical” and open to other religious beliefs as was possible in that day.

Sarah Bryant has researched the battles of the Crusades vigorously and helps contemporary readers see the relentless cruelty and awesome bloodletting that those face-to-face battles became. How far they are from the pin-point bombing and off-shore shelling of modern warfare! There is hate here—hate that is so palpable that one can almost taste it. It is painful to read at times. Bryant has developed her characters so well that one becomes emotionally involved at some level with all of them. Even the sexual tension between Khalidah and Sulayman, while not overtly described at any time and to any great degree, is there in Khalidah’s search for resolution to some unexpressed questions about future, loyalties, family origins, and the importance of all those as they conflict with and detract from the enduring relationship between life-long lovers.

This is a saga of love and loss, family love in many guises, formal betrothal and illicit love, children who are valued and illegitimate offspring and the pain they carry in their hearts for a lifetime. It is a story of old traditions and growing up, political greed and its ultimate destructiveness. Here you encounter people of great grace and those who have never understood faith or grace in any way but use the convictions of others to further their own selfish ends.

I stand in awe of writers that take on the task of writing such a novel. It is an achievement that many desire but not many attain or do well. Bryant stands among those who have “stepped up to the plate” so to speak and has given the time and effort to do it right. It is a wonderful piece of historical fiction that is as educational as it is entertaining. It is one of those books that bears re-reading and which continues to reveal its secrets in the third or fourth go-around. Bryant has balanced the stories of a panoply of characters and managed to tell them all well. This book is well worth the time and effort to read!

I give this book a rating of 5 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.