Bread of Angels by Tessa Afshar Publication Date: June 6, 2017 by Tyndale House Publishers Genre: Biblical Fiction, Historical Christian Romans, Christian Historical Fiction 4 Stars
Summary/Description
Purple. The foundation of an influential trade in a Roman world dominated by men. One woman rises up to take the reins of success in an incredible journey of courage, grit, and friendship. And along the way, she changes the world. But before she was Lydia, the seller of purple, she was simply a merchant’s daughter who loved three things: her father, her ancestral home, and making dye. Then unbearable betrayal robs her of nearly everything. With only her father’s secret formulas left, Lydia flees to Philippi and struggles to establish her business on her own. Determination and serendipitous acquaintances―along with her father’s precious dye―help her become one of the city’s preeminent merchants. But fear lingers in every shadow, until Lydia meets the apostle Paul and hears his message of hope, becoming his first European convert. Still, Lydia can’t outrun her secrets forever, and when past and present collide, she must either stand firm and trust in her fledgling faith or succumb to the fear that has ruled her life.
I highly recommend everyone read Bread of Angels! One of the expressed goals of Tessa Afshar, bestselling, award-winning author of Bread of Angels, is to remind each reader of God’s truth that Jesus is lovingly pursuing them. Certainly, this is achieved through the story of Lydia, the seller of purple. This woman is mentioned twice in the sixteenth chapter of Acts where it records her conversion and then her baptism.
The author connects the dots and through her gift of imagination she tells us an incredible story of how God opened Lydia’s heart to the Gospel after already demonstrating to her how much He loved her, provided for her, and cared for her -- even though she didn’t have an easy life as her heart was broken and she had problems.
Each of the characters including (but not limited to) Lydia, her father, Rebekah, Jason, Antiochus, Chloris, The General, Luke, Silas, Paul, Timothy, and Marcus were introduced perfectly and were developed masterfully.
Faith and Biblical truths were beautifully intertwined throughout this fictional narrative. Each mention of other Biblical figures including Paul and Silas were Scripturally based and accurate. I greatly appreciate that! It brought the words of Scripture leaping off the page with amazing details and emotions. I will not soon forget the pictures my mind saw of each of them.
One of the most beautiful, memorable quotes from Bread of Angels is: “Do we not suffer a hunger that can only be alleviated with faith? In a way, we have the learn to eat the bread of angels. Every day, trust God to give us our sufficiency for the day.”