Lioness: Mahlah's Journey

Daughters of Zelophehad, Book 1

By: Barbara Britton

Narrated by: Anne Eliza

While the Israelites struggle to occupy the Promised Land of God, Mahlah bat Zelophehad is orphaned and left to care for her four sisters. But daughters of the dead are unable to inherit land, and it will take a miracle for Mahlah to obtain the means to care for her sisters and uphold the vow she made to her dying mother.

Mahlah must seek Moses, the leader of her people, and request something extraordinary - the right for a daughter to inherit her deceased father's land. A right that will upset the ox-cart of male inheritance and thrust her into the role of a rebel.

But, God is the protector of the orphan and the widow, and five orphaned daughters need his help. With God, anything is possible. Even changing man's tradition.

©2019 Barbara M. Britton (P)2020 Barbara M. Britton

What a Charming Tale!

Being an avid biblical history fiction fan, the story of the daughters of Zelophehad intrigued me immediately. This tale of Mahlah and her four sisters' journey through the Promised Land is both charming and enlightening! We tend to think of Bible stories as just that - stories. For me, this type of fiction brings these historical characters to vivid life. It stokes my imagination to place myself in their sandals. How would I behave and react to all that they lived through? BRAVO to both Barbara Britton for her excellent tale and to Anne Eliza for her wonderful narration! Now on to the other two tales of the daughters of Zelophehad! :)

The author has an amazing talent!

I love this series. If you love the bible and it's treasure you will enjoy this series. The author spun a tale that has some basis from the historical text and brings it to life with the imaginings of a true story teller.

The daughters of Zelophehad show strength and a love of God that is found in many women in the bible.
On another note the narrator has a lovely voice and does an impressive job of bringing the story to life. You won't be disappointed.

Very sweet story

It took a while to get into as the writing was a pretty slow pace to start off but it did start to pick up and it turned into the sweetest story! I really enjoyed it and really cared about the characters. It is a very sweet story of strength, family bonds, love, humility and pride. it was fun to listen to a story set in the days of Moses, to hear things you are familiar with but from Mahlah's point of view. The narrator was also fantastic. Her sweet, calm voice was a perfect choice to tell Mahlah's story. She kept the story going and did a such a great job pronouncing some of the Hebrew words that are not used in modern day and just added a great atmosphere for the story.

*I received a free copy of the audiobook but my words and opinions are my own.

For her sisters she'll do anything...

I'm always a little skeptical when I try new-to-me Biblical fiction. There's just so much out there that is either not Biblically/historically accurate or the quality of writing is not the highest. I, had, however, heard good things about Barbara Britton so I went into listening to this Lioness with some hopes. I wasn't disappointed. Not only does this book bring forward a fascinating but little known story of the 5 sisters who changed history, a story I must have read but totally didn't remember, but it also brings insight into what it might have been like to be one of the Israelites who are on the cusp of entering the Promised Land after 40 years of desert wandering. I found Lioness to be interesting and entertaining and it left me looking for more of Barbara Britton's fiction.

With things being so different right now I've been listening more audiobooks, of which Lioness was one. I felt that the audio production was pretty good. The narrator was well chosen, she brought Barbara Britton's nineteen year old Mahlah to life. There were a few mispronounced words but they didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the audiobook. I'm definitely looking forward to listening to the next book in the Daughters of Zelophehad series.

(I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are entirely my own.)

Wisdom Weighs Wording

I really, really wish that the narrator had used YouTube to listen to an Israeli/Hebrew speaker for correct pronunciation of the names. Ho-glah and Bah-See-Math wouldn't have been so painfully slaughtered. Since the other books are clearly already finished, this probably won't be corrected. Lol, small thing, I know. But it's more respectful. I have several friends from other countries. They have more respect for those who legitimately try to say things correctly.

Mahlah's character is very clearly drawn, as is little Jonah. The truth of the double-portion due to a firstborn son is well illustrated as is the likelihood that grown men would be more likely to be distainful of the claims of orphaned teenaged girls on an inheritance of land. Mahlah is a very respectful person, while at the same time saying what needs to be said. A wise person, no matter their gender or age, indeed weighs how their words will be taken. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Great story and wonderful narrator!

I don't normally listen to this genre, but I really enjoyed this story and narrator

Good story not so good performance

It was a good story but the performance was a bit bland. exciting Seins were as bland as the rest of the story.