As children, we learn about the inspiring victory of David over Goliath. As adults, we are warned of David's adultery with Bathsheba. Novelist Geraldine Brooks, in her latest book, The Secret Chord, has filled in all of the human bits in between. She's the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of March and Year Of Wonders. The Old Testament drama of King David intrigued her, and she went back to her Bible to piece his life together.
The Secret Chord provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David’s life while also focusing on others, even more remarkable and emotionally intense, which have been neglected. We see David through the eyes of those who love him or fear him—but not without fratricide and treason.