Up from Dust by Heather Kaufman was an interesting read. I love Biblical fiction as it seems to breathe life into the Bible to make it fresh for me. I was intrigued by the subject of the back story to Martha, Mary and Lazarus. After reading the book, I am conflicted about my feelings on this book. There were parts that I enjoyed, but some parts I felt were stretching the ideas a bit too much for my taste. The back story of the siblings was interesting and the love interest for Martha was captivating. I also thought how Martha and her love interest met in secret was a bit of a stretch for that time in history. The other thing I found disappointing was the lack of friendship with Jesus in the book. While Kaufman stayed true to the Biblical account of things, I was disappointed that the close friendship that Jesus had with these siblings was not developed in the story as I had hoped. It is a good read, I just had expectations that were left unfulfilled. I did like how Kaufman had end notes to direct people back to the Bible and explaining a bit of her thought process to why she took the direction in the story that she wrote.
My thanks to Bethany House Publishers and Netgalley for the free ebook in exchange for my review of the book.
