Local artist wins E-Lit Award

Joni Okun's debut audiobook, "To Hold the Throne: A Novel of the Last Maccabee Princess and King Herod the Great" won the gold medal in the E-Lit Awards 2020 religious fiction category. E-Lit is an eBook awards program that honors the best e-books published each year in the North American market. Okun's book will be featured in www.IndependentPublisher.com and highlighted prominently in E-Lit's monthly newsletter, which goes out to more than 20,000 subscribers worldwide, many of whom are agents, buyers, and librarians.

"To Hold the Throne" is an exceptional work of historical fiction, and the voice actors who narrate this tale are engaging and fun to hear. It's great entertainment, as well as an easy way to learn some fascinating ancient Jewish history. 

The eBook transports its listener to an exciting and turbulent time in Judea. The Maccabee (Hasmonean) dynasty has been torn apart, both from an internal struggle for power and from the foreign influence of Rome. A new king has been crowned, Herod the Great, counselor to former King Hyrcanus and married to the old ruler's granddaughter, Mariamne, the last Maccabee princess. The listener comes to know Mariamne and Herod, their complicated relationship, and their thoughts and fears. Other characters include luminaries of the time, among them Marc Antony, Augustus Caesar, and Cleopatra.

There is something for everyone in this story, which has elements of suspense, intrigue, romance, treachery, murder and warfare. The characters are well developed, and the listener comes to care about them, even while questioning their motives and their sanity. This is a work of fiction, however it is clear that a lot of research went into bringing this ancient world back to life. 

Those who are familiar with Herod as a master builder and as the architect of the Slaughter of the Innocents may be unaware of the events which unfolded decades before, when his scheming first brought him to power. And Mariamne, the tortured link between the Maccabee and Herodian dynasties, is a worthy foil to her ambitious husband.