Publisher's Synopsis
According to the Bible, King Solomon had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, but he could sire only one son and two daughters! These facts form the basis of the novel's unusual plot which skillfully blends fact and fiction as it unfolds the fate of a king who was not only the wisest man on earth but the richest of his time. Neither the utterance of profit or priest could save him; if the Queen of Sheba could have influenced her destiny she could have avert the tragedy of a fallen monarch. From the time that King Solomon, the architect of the temple, could not accept his malady, his mind became demonized - and he dashed himself against the wind in his unattainable search for a panacea. Increasingly, as he perverted his discerning heart, followed detestable gods and did evil, he was swept towards a destructive end that no one could have foretold. Throughout this gripping tale of intrigue at court and encounters of love, we meet King David and his wife, Bathsheba, who secures Solomon's accession to the throne, the beautiful, ambitious Abishag who lies with the king when he is old and infirm to infuse warmth into his being, Zabud, the priest, who is torn between God and promiscuity, Adonijah who attempts to become king, and Benaiah, the strong-willed commander.
