A Deeper Well by Jill Eileen Smith Review

Wow, A Deeper Well by Jill Eileen Smith was quite the powerful book. And very, very emotional. I was literally in tears for the majority of the book. I sat reading this book for hours because I couldn't put it down. I needed to know what was going to happen to Nessa. 

Nessa is the name the author gave to the unnamed woman at the well who we meet in the book of John in the Bible. I've heard or read this account multiple times and usually it seems that this woman is judged quite badly. She's had multiple husbands and her current husband isn't her husband. According to Jesus. The thing is, I was just recently thinking about this because our Bible study on John had a lesson on the woman at the well. This Samaritan woman that Jesus actually talked to and asked for a cup of water from. And I got to wondering, why is she always seen in such a bad light? I asked, in that culture, wasn't it the man who had to ask for the divorce? It's not like she was an adulteress, because if she had been, she would have been stoned. So, I asked in my Bible study, what exactly happened in her life that she had had multiple husbands? And then here comes this fictionalized tale that actually delves into that very question. 

Yes, of course this book is fiction. We can't really know. It's just speculation. But the author did a wonderful job of bringing this character to life. Imagining what her life might have looked like in the frame of the culture at the time. Events that might have happened to cause a woman to have been without her husband five times. Here was this gorgeous woman who was just about sold multiple times because of the bride price her family could get for her because of her beauty. She despaired, wondering if she would ever find someone who would actually love her, care for her, not cast her aside. 

I was not expecting that the story would be told from two points of view. However, we also got to see the story from the point of view of Lavi, a young man who had been in love with her since they were younger and had hoped to marry her when they were of age. Sadly we also get to see his despair when he is rejected and has to see her constantly given to other men. 

Of course, if you know the story from the Bible, you know that hope does come to her. Hope in the form of Jesus, the Messiah, the One who actually talks to her and knows her. The One who she proclaims about throughout the town where she lives. The town where Jesus then stays for a couple of days to preach. A part of the story that I had actually forgotten about. I was a little uneasy, concerned that the author was putting words into Jesus's mouth that He didn't say. But most of what He says in this story is biblical. There were just a couple of accounts I wasn't quite sure of. All in all, I think the author handled it well, sharing God's truths. 

I loved this book, and highly recommend it. But, yeah, have those tissues handy. 

I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.