The Land Between Two Rivers: A Novel of Ancient Babylon

When the young girl, Nitocris, leaves her village to live in the Babylon harem of King Nebuchadnezzar, she enters a Palace life filled with concubines and courtiers, princes vying for the throne, and scribes serving warring gods. Although a favorite of the King, Nitocris finds harem life confining. By law, she is to become a queen, but a shocking event changes that. When she proposes the building of a garden mountain, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the King approves the project. The challenges of building a mountain in the desert and watering its grandiose gardens bring the temptations of forbidden love to three couples who test the boundaries set by tradition, the king and religion. Can Nitocris, property of the King, resist her attraction to the Jewish exile Avnah? Will the passion of the scribes Kaylah and Samuel transcend the gods' prohibitions? The oracular priestess and the royal Overseer try to maneuver skillfully through the perils of Palace treachery as the improbable gardens begin to rise above the converging Tigris and Euphrates rivers. All discover the high cost of crossing cultures, realizing ambitions and consummating love.

Jo Ford is a professor emeritus, retired from teaching English at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. She is the author of Colophon, a historical novel set in fifteenth century Italy. She lives in Sunnyvale, California.