The Throne in the Heart of the Sea

In the 9th century BC, King Ittobaal of Tyre is building a maritime empire that will come to control the entire Mediterranean. Under his leadership, ordinary citizens prosper and may even transcend the limitations of a humble birth. In Assyria, the despot of another nascent empire declares himself “sovereign of the four corners of the earth,” and backs his claim with the mightiest army the world has yet seen. In these perilous times, three young people struggle to realize their ambitions. Ittobaal’s daughter Jezebel believes the gods intend for her to rule Tyre . Tamar, the daughter of a poor fisherman, longs to be a scribe. And Elijah, an Israelite farmboy, swears bitter vengeance against the king who caused his father’s death. Driven by their passions—sexual, political, and religious—they tangle and fly apart, again and again. This astonishingly well researched book takes you deep into their world, a world as real as your own. This is what might have been.