Providence: Hannah's Journey (Tribes of Israel)

By: Barbara M. Britton

Narrated by: Mindy Newell

As the sole daughter of the chief priest, Hannah is publicly shamed when the prophet of Israel refuses to heal her. Determined to restore her family's honor, she escapes Jerusalem in hopes of finding the prophet and convincing him to restore her deformities. Gilead, a young Hebrew guard sympathetic to her plight, willingly accompanies her. On their way, they are captured by a band of raiders and Hannah is forced to serve in the household of the commander of the Aramean army, an officer who is in need of healing himself. Meanwhile, Gilead is being used as sword practice for the Aramean soldiers. Hannah must act fast to save Gilead and herself, but survival will mean coaxing the prophet of Israel to heal an enemy commander.

©2015 Barbara M. Britton (P)2018 Barbara M. Britton

it's not a race

Barbara Britton is a good writer, but the narrator sounds like she's in a race. I will not be listening to more of Mz Britton's books until there's another narrator. she needs to work on her pronunciation also.

Performance makes a difference

Usually audible books feel like theater and it is easy to get wrapped up in the story and forget I am listening to a book. Unfortunately that is not the case with this narrator. I am constantly aware that I am being read to. The story is one I am familiar with and enjoy, I own it on my Kindle. However this narrator seems to think of narration as a job, not an opportunity to perform. There is little difference between the character voices/emotions and the narrative. Overall the narrator sounds bored and wishing to be doing almost anything else. To make me excited enough about the story to get lost in it, the narrator must also portray excitement about the story. With the right narrator, this could have been a very enjoyable audiobook. I will be very cautious about purchasing any other books that have this narrator.

Encouraging

The book captured the essence of God’s grace for all people. Good job and and keep writing

New Narrator please

I understand that this book was written with a youth audience in mind, but it feels a little shallow. The plot is great, but it just feels like it could be fleshed out a lot more. The progression of events seemed rushed and confusing, and at many points I wondered if this was really a poorly edited abridgement, even though it says it is unabridged. The narrator reads way too fast and does not portray feelings or the events of the story appropriately. Her inflection is too robotic and quick to allow the story to move the reader along with the twists and turns. It ends up feeling like a 9th grade oral report. At one point I realized the narrator sounded like a female version of Doug the Dog..at that point I lost connection completely...Doug is adorable but wholly inappropriate for the gravity of a Biblical Fiction/romance. I hate to give it a low rating, because I did enjoy the story. But I would recommend it for young readers and...maybe just read the book...

Trust the reviews

Seldom to I return an audiobook. I persevered as far as chapter 3 and couldn’t listen to another chapter. The narrator read so fast and her inflection and tone was so annoying I couldn’t pay attention to the story. I had to return it. I’m grateful because I used a credit for a book just shy of 6 hours that I absolutely couldn’t listen too.

Worst Biblical Fiction Story

Mindy Newell somehow managed to read a 5hr+ book without taking a single breath. I slowed the speed down to 90 but all that did was make it a bit easier to understand.

As for the story...I'll start with some positives. The love story between Hannah and Gilead was beautiful, thus the second star. The relationship between Naaman and Hannah was terrific too, thus the third star. Hannah was very brave, compassionate and showed a lot of pluck.

Ok, now for the rest that overshadowed anything good about the story. While I realize that author's take artistic license while letting their imagination flow, certain things like Naaman's name cannot be changed. It's clear that Britton did a lot of research but wow did she miss the boat on a myriad of issues. All through the book he's called Nayback. 🙄 The prophet Elisha is never named at all. This is the prophet that YHWH used to tell the king of IsraEl every move the king of Syria made before he made it in 2Kings6, even seeing the mountains full of horses with chariots of fire in v17, yet in this story he wrongfully accuses Hannah of sexual impropriety! Elisha marries Hannah to Gilead, but not one of the children of IsraEl, even their friend Benjamin, witnesses it, nor will anyone confirm it until several months later. Gilead eats pork instead of contenting himself with the available bread and water...this from a people whose forbears were fed by YHWH HIMSELF with manna (bread) and water for 40 years, yet Gilead is purported to be righteous!?! Torah keeping Jews know that eating swine forbids them from entering YHWH'S kingdom (Isa66:17), it's an abomination that is considered by YHWH to be adultery, not just because swine is unclean, but also because swine were Always Considered to be the preferred sacrificial food to demons. Even YaHshua/Jesus, who kicked demons out of people only ever sent demons into swine (Matt8:28-43). Hannah's father betroths her to another man without her being there to consent, and according to every Jewish tradition and law regarding marriage, the bride Must give consent or the ketubah is invalid! Why would any Levite priest demand that the child of another that's not even from something close to a Levirate marriage, nor even from another Levite, be claimed as his? Again, why would the prophet Elisha go into hiding after performing a marriage, knowing his testimony would be needed? Or refuse to pray for the return to life of one murdered on holy ground? It was all I could do to finish this book. Normally, I love Britton's stories, but had this one been my first, it would definitely have been my last!! It's the absolute worst Biblical Fiction I've ever read!

Poorly written, terrible narration

I really wanted to like this book but it was highly unrealistic. The narration was too fast with no pause between characters or artistic delivery. It was very hard to listen to.