In the early years after Christ lived, there was a group of Jewish extremists who lived on a plateau or a mesa outside of Jerusalem. They had moved there because of the persecution by the Romans - who were basically on a rampage to kill all Jews.
They lived happily and well up on the mesa and it was said that no Romans could ever reach them so they felt safe and secure.
This was until one Roman soldier built a land bridge to get to the top of the mesa.
The Jews, however, decided that they would rather kill themselves than fall at the hand of the Romans. So they elected 10 people to kill all of the Jews living at Masada - approximately 950. When the 10 were done killing the people, one of the 10 was elected to kill the other 9 and then kill himself. What the 10 didn't know was that they had missed 2 women and five children - and those few lived after the massacre at Masada.
As the Romans breasted the land bridge and came to the top of the mesa, all they found was burned buildings and dead bodies. The only buildings not burned were the buildings that contained food. The Jews wanted to show the Romans that the reason they had killed themselves was NOT because of a food shortage.
So basically that is the story of Masada. The Dovekeepers is a fictional story about those 2 women and five children that survived Masada. It is the story of how they came to Masada, their lives in Masada, and what happened to them after everyone was killed.
If you would like more information on Masada, you can go to the Jewish Virtual Library or look at the Virtual Tour of the site.
Rating: 9 / 10
ISBN: 9781451617474
Publisher: Scribner
Edition: 1st Edition