2024/093: The Secret Chord — Geraldine Brooks

2024/093: The Secret Chord — Geraldine Brooks

The painful future stretched out before me. David would have the throne, the crown, the line of descendants that the Name had promised him. But for the rest of his life, he would be scalded by the consequences of his choices. My task would be twofold: to stand up to him, and to stand by him. To awaken his conscience, and to salve the pain this would cause him. [p. 194]

The life and deeds of King David, as recounted by the prophet Nathan (here 'Natan': the names are transliterated from Hebrew) and by an assortment of people -- including David's first wife Mikhal, his mother Nizevet, his brother Shammah -- who Natan interviews as part of his history of David's life. Natan's own prophecies are blank episodes in his account, and he doubts: "If David was a man after this god’s own heart, as my inner voice had told me often and again, what kind of black-hearted deity held me in his grip?"

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