Of the many timeless tales both currently at our fingertips and yet to be written, one of the most universal stories that continues to be told revolves around our collective thirst for comfort, safety, and serenity. To find a home means to find a purpose. But no matter how many times such a story is told, each new angle offers a fresh perspective on what we tend to gain when we lose everything we thought we knew.
Jennifer Renson's Aoh beautifully captures the struggle of survival and quest for belonging in a cruel, dishonest land. The novel introduces us to the title character's simple yet dangerous life as an Egyptian peasant, following her through tragedy, tribulation, and triumph. Aoh finds herself orphaned and in the care of Babylon's queen. But this palace isn't home. She spends years wondering: Does the home she knew before still remain? And when her past is revealed, will she find the strength to continue on alone with nowhere to go?
Renson's prose paints a breathtaking picture of each scene, character, and mood. Having never been to a certain place, can you see it when you close your eyes? That is the true test of an expertly-crafted narrative -- it's not about what happens and who it happens to that makes a story come alive, but where it happens as well. The sights, sounds, smells -- the more sensory, the more immersive a novel becomes.
Aoh finds herself in an unfamiliar place not knowing who she can trust or if she will ever find her way back home. And isn't that the story of so many of us at different crucial seasons in our lives -- knowing that moving forward is the only option, yet not quite knowing our final destination? Aoh has never loved like those around her, has never truly felt safe having grown up with the looming threat of war overhead. To find a home again means risking her life to save not only others, but herself as well. To be brave is to sacrifice all hope of survival for the small chance that peace might lie, in one way or another, on the other side.
From the characters to the brutal action and everything in-between, Aoh is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt lost in a metaphorical desert -- for anyone who has ever wondered if they belong anywhere, and who has dared to go to the ends of the Earth to find out.
The book is available digitally and in paperback on Amazon.