About the Book
Book: Up from Dust: Martha’s Story
Author: Heather Kaufman
Genre: Biblical fiction
Release Date: January 23, 2024
Martha of Bethany is no stranger to adversity. After her mother’s untimely death, Martha shoulders the responsibility of raising her siblings–quiet and studious Lazarus, and wild and rambunctious Mary. She finds solace in friendship and the beginnings of first love, but just as Martha begins to imagine a new future, hardship strikes again and her dreams crumble into dust.
Ten years later, Martha’s friend pleads for the new teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, to come and heal her husband. When Martha discovers that the carpenter-rabbi is connected to her past, she’s not sure she can trust him with her future. But as he continues to perform miracles, the invitation to believe becomes harder to resist, renewing Martha’s hardened heart, even as she faces an unknown future.
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About the Author
Heather Kaufman is the author of multiple books and devotions, praised by Kirkus Review for writing “a charming and well-crafted tale.” She delights in highlighting the goodness of God through storytelling. When not reading, writing, or accumulating mounds of books, Heather can be found exploring new parks with her husband and three children near their home in St. Louis, Missouri.
More from Heather
Up from Dust: Martha’s Story is the first of three books in my new series, “Women of the Way.” Each book focuses on a female follower of Christ, diving deep into her history before touching upon the events we know from Scripture. Book one is on Martha of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Mary.
Let me ask you a question: What comes to your mind when you think of Martha?
Busy? Angry? Worried?
How about: Teachable? Trusting? Strong?
I’m afraid we’ve distilled poor Martha down into a personality type, turning her into a cautionary tale for Christian women. When Scripture as a whole presents a much different picture.
The seed of this story was planted in my heart during an Easter sermon in 2016, when I was startled into a deep admiration for this remarkable woman of faith. “Why haven’t I been encouraged to be more like Martha?” I wondered. Martha . . . a woman who learned from her mistakes and took the living God at His word. A woman who confessed Jesus as the resurrection and the life while her brother was four days dead in a tomb. Her trajectory in Scripture from worry to radical trust is one to emulate and it led me to ask: What happened in this woman’s heart?
In Up from Dust, I linger over Martha, imagining what her life was like before Christ. The story traces all the “many things” that worried and troubled Martha’s heart and the Christ who pinpointed her pain, met her in the midst of it, and lifted her up. We watch Martha come of age as she works through her mother’s death and the heavy responsibility of raising her siblings. We journey with Martha as she experiences first love and learns to shoulder the mantle of womanhood, even while coping with a father who is stuck in his loss. When grief comes to Martha’s own heart, she is presented with a choice. Will she cling to her hurt more than to Adonai, the way her father has done? Or is there a better way forward?
May this story encourage you to remain openhearted even when life feels unbearably hard, to pin your hopes to Jesus, the only One able to lift you up from the ashes of grief.
While you read, consider listening to the Up from Dust playlist! It’s full of inspirational music that ties into the themes from the book. Give it a listen HERE. Happy reading (and listening)!
Surrendering with you to Him,
Heather
My Impressions
“How can I begin to tell of the many things I have found? Or of the One who found me? I see His hand in my story like a weaver’s shuttle through the warp, steady and sure, pulling here, loosening there, doing the work necessary for beauty. How do I tell of His capable hands, the ones that rescued me?”
“Before I can share the many ways I was found, I would have to begin with the day I was lost.”
And so, in the prologue, ( I hope you read prologues!) we have the reason for Heather Kaufman’s imagination of Martha’s life long before she ever met Jesus. As with other great Biblical fiction, Kaufman takes a few verses and passages we know of a Biblical individual. These are not changed from Scripture. But where Scripture is silent, the author suggests possible life events that send Martha, Mary, and Lazarus on their life trajectories until they encounter Jesus. “Maybe she or he reacted this way because…” In the meantime, Kaufman’s Martha becomes so real, so human, you will sympathize, you will judge, you will hold your breath as you hold her secrets, and you will wonder how she survived growing up in her father’s house. You will begin to understand a woman’s plight in Jewish society in the first century. Kaufman presents challenging relationships well. Some romantic, some familial, some friend-based. You will sigh, you will cry, you will ask, “Why?” But hopefully, when all is said and done, you will turn to the Biblical story to check out what truth we do know, and you’ll never view Martha or her siblings as 2- dimensional again!
I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher, through Celebrate Lit via NetGalley, plus I bought my own ebook. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
Notable Quotables:
“Yahweh keeps providing beacons of light in your life to guide you when you need it most.”
“None of us is worthy. We are all naked and undone before the holiness of God.”
“Who can stand before this holy God?”
“Those who align themselves with His Son.”
“Sometimes love engulfs us suddenly, like a consuming fire.”“…Other times it comes over us slowly, like a sunrise.”
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Magnificent! An excellent Biblical times novel that offers a great look at the political and cultural settings of the times, and how a Jewish woman would fit into them. A Bible-honoring possible solution for how life made Martha who she was.
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, March 26
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 27
Texas Book-aholic, March 28
Locks, Hooks and Books, March 29
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 30
For Him and My Family, March 31
The Lofty Pages, March 31
Splashes of Joy, April 1
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, April 2
She Lives To Read, April 3
Cover Lover Book Review, April 4
Artistic Nobody, April 5 (Spotlight)
Labor Not in Vain, April 6
Mary Hake, April 6
Holly’s Book Corner, April 7
Pause for Tales, April 8
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Heather is giving away the grand prize package of a $15 gift card to Amazon and a paperback copy of Up from Dust!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2aa71/up-from-dust-martha-s-story-celebration-tour-giveaway
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions 