The peasant king : a novel
(Book)

Includes discussion questions.

When her mother, the Persian king's famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. But infiltrating their adversary's lands proves easier than escaping them. As they flee through dangerous mountain passes, their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher. Asher is not who the world believes he is. Despite his royal blood, he has had to climb his way out of poverty to forge success from nothing. A manufacturer of some of the best weaponry in the East, Asher has only one goal: to destroy his father. But following his escape from prison, Asher is irresistibly drawn to Jemmah, unaware she guards her own secret. Jemmah must convince Asher to give up everything he has worked for, all for the sake of a higher purpose he's not sure he believes in. The fate of the Persian Empire, and possibly the Judean people, hangs in the balance and in the persuasive power of one ordinary woman.