Forbidden

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

Overview

A sweeping, epic saga of romance and hardship, set against the dramatic backdrop of Ancient Mesopotamia—for fans of Cleopatra's Moon or the adult bestseller The Red Tent.

In the unforgiving Mesopotamian desert where Jayden's tribe lives, betrothal celebrations abound, and tonight it is Jayden's turn to be honored. But while this union with Horeb, the son of her tribe's leader, will bring a life of riches and restore her family's position within the tribe, it will come at the price of Jayden's heart.

Then a shadowy boy from the southern lands appears. Handsome and mysterious, Kadesh fills Jayden's heart with a passion she never knew possible. But with Horeb's increasingly violent threats haunting Jayden's every move, she knows she must find a way to escape—or die trying. With a forbidden romance blossoming in her heart, and her family's survival on the line, Jayden must finish the deadly journey to save the ones she loves—and find true love for herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062195005
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Series:	Forbidden , #1
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	779 KB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Kimberley Griffiths Little was born in San Francisco, but now lives in New Mexico with her husband and their three sons. For such award-winning middle grade novels as When the Butterflies Came, The Last Snake Runner, The Healing Spell, and Circle of Secrets, her writing has been praised as "fast-paced and dramatic," with "characters painted in memorable detail" and "beautifully realized settings." Kimberley adores anything old and musty with a secret story to tell. She's stayed in the haunted tower room at Borthwick Castle in Scotland; sailed on the Seine in Paris; ridden a camel in Petra, Jordan; shopped the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul; and spent the night in an old Communist hotel in Bulgaria.

Editorial Reviews

At its core, this is a romance, with all the push and pull that goes along with impossible love, and Little elevates the story by creating a perilous landscape, both outward and inward, as Jayden must deal with the hardship of desert life as well as her own desires.” — Booklist (starred review)

“A fast-paced, entertaining choice which will appeal to fans of historical fiction and romance.” — School Library Journal

“Rich historical details are deftly woven into Jayden’s narration, and the dynamics of Jayden’s tribe are vividly drawn. Jayden’s story becomes as much about finding herself as it is about finding love.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

At its core, this is a romance, with all the push and pull that goes along with impossible love, and Little elevates the story by creating a perilous landscape, both outward and inward, as Jayden must deal with the hardship of desert life as well as her own desires.

Booklist (starred review)

Rich historical details are deftly woven into Jayden’s narration, and the dynamics of Jayden’s tribe are vividly drawn. Jayden’s story becomes as much about finding herself as it is about finding love.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Rich historical details are deftly woven into Jayden’s narration, and the dynamics of Jayden’s tribe are vividly drawn. Jayden’s story becomes as much about finding herself as it is about finding love.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

2014-09-14
A Mesopotamian girl seeks love in the 18th century B.C. In a tribe of desert nomads whose names come primarily from the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon, a 15-year-old hilariously named Jayden prepares for an unwanted betrothal. It's the time of Hammurabi, and Jayden, "a daughter of Abraham," is to wed loathsome Horeb, heir to the throne of her tribe. Horeb, selfish and lazy, abandons Jayden in her deepest tragedy, but mysterious Kadesh appears out of the desert to aid her. Even Jayden's older sister, Leila, sees which way the wind is blowing, telling Jayden, "Horeb might be your future husband, but Kadesh is the handsome stranger who can't take his eyes off you." Meanwhile, Leila is thinking about abandoning the ways of their fathers for the comforts of the Temple of Ashtoreth, giving Jayden plenty of opportunity to moralize at her sister about the wickedness of priestess practices (though Jayden herself is not quite clear what's so evil about it). When everything goes wrong (mostly because of Horeb's cackling villainy, invisible to all but Jayden), it's the people Jayden judges and finds wanting who rescue her—not that their kindness changes her opinions. Readers looking for blandly re-created historical settings that are less anachronistic than this would be better served by Esther Friesner's Princesses of Myth series. The setup for a sequel doesn't entice. (Historical fiction. 12-14)

Kirkus Reviews