Eric Shaw Quinn

‘The Prince’s Psalm’ is not just an excellent novel with fascinating characters, a historical setting that feels real enough to be contemporary, enough intrigue and betrayal to fill three novels, and a complicated plot with intricate twists and turns involving whole nations. It is also an epic love story between two well-known historical figures - David and Jonathan - who I think have been called “friends” only because those who wrote their history and those who translated the old documents downplayed and ignored the truth. You need only look at some of the verses in the Old Testament to figure out that even those “translations” were unable to hide the truth – undeniable if you have an open mind and know what you’re looking for. Eric Shaw Quinn has looked deeper than what is left 3,000 years later and has created a truly unique piece of writing.

How has he done this? The Old Testament, shared to a significant degree between the Christian and Jewish faiths, is full of facts, stories, and historical information – much of which has become an integral part of Western culture. Adam and Eve, Noah and his ark, and Moses leading the exodus from Egypt are just a few examples. One of the most well-known is the story of how David slew Goliath with nothing more than a sling and some river stones. But there was more to David than that one fight, or his also-famous encounter with the lion. Where most of those stories in the Old Testament focus on the facts, almost like nonfiction does, Eric Shaw Quinn has treated this story as fiction, focusing on the characters and relationships in their political and social context. He has read between the lines, so to speak, to find the characters’ background, motivation, and emotions not made explicit in the “official” version.

The result is an amazing story that feels as real as any contemporary novel I have read. The ongoing insertions of verses from the Old Testament served to remind me of the facts, as far as we know them, every step of the way. The result may not be “the absolute truth” – if there is such a thing – but a version of events that is logical and feels so right to me it might as well be truth. Without being explicit, it shows the depth of the love and devotion David and Jonathan shared, the tragic end of their partnership when Jonathan died, and the kind of man David was before and after this life-changing love.

If you want to know what David and Jonathan might have been like as men, if you enjoy historical novels with details that make you feel a part of the past, and if you’re looking for a read that is impressive in its scope, compelling, and an extraordinary achievement, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It is long, at around 480 pages, but it was worth every minute I spent reading it. Truly stunning.


NOTE: This book was provided by DSP Publications for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.… (més)