Facing Extraordinary Circumstances

Bestselling author Tessa Afshar delivers another adventurous novel filled with romance and imagination, reminding readers of what Publishers Weekly calls her “amazing talent for packing action and intrigue into the biblical setting for modern readers.

• ”Full-length historical romance novel set in biblical times
• Compelling, clean romance
• Can be read as a standalone or as a companion to The Hidden Prince
• Includes discussion questions for book groups

The Peasant King

Jemmah has always thought of herself as perfectly ordinary . . . until she faces extraordinary circumstances.

When her mother, the Persian king’s famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. But infiltrating their adversary’s lands proves easier than escaping them. Fleeing through dangerous mountain passes, their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher.

Asher is not who the world believes he is. Despite his royal blood, he has had to climb his way out of poverty to forge success from nothing. A manufacturer of some of the best weaponry in the East, Asher has only one goal: to destroy his father. But following his escape from prison, Asher is irresistibly drawn to Jemmah, unaware that she guards her own secret.

Jemmah must convince Asher to give up everything he has worked for, all for the sake of a higher purpose he’s not sure he believes in. The fate of the Persian empire―and possibly the Judean people―hang in the balance and in the persuasive power of one ordinary woman.

Interview on the 700 Club:

Released November 7, 2023

Tessa Afshar is an award-winning author of biblical and inspirational historical fiction. She holds a Master of Divinity from Yale University, where she served as cochair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. After working in women's ministry for nearly twenty years, Tessa became a full-time writer and speaker. Tessa and her husband live in New England, where they proudly tend their mediocre garden.

https://tessaafshar.com/

What Is The Story Behind The Peasant King?

 

In researching this period of history were there parts you enjoyed the most?

The rich historical data available from this period provided a lot of additional information where the Bible is silent. Before the Israelite captives could be set free from Babylon, God had to implement several other rescues. What became evident through my research was that transforming the small nation of Persia into a global empire mighty enough to defeat Babylon needed God’s intervention. These historical accounts were fun to read about. More importantly, they encouraged and strengthened my faith.

Could you tell us about the thread involving Old Testament Prophecy in this novel and why you were interested in this topic?

  

While Persia was still a relatively small country, Isaiah prophesied that Jerusalem and the Temple would one day be rebuilt with the help of a Persian king. This is a shocking prophecy on many levels. For one, the deliverer of God’s people would be a Gentile. He is the only Gentile to whom God refers as his anointed one (Isaiah 45:1-3). Also, at the time of this prophecy, Persia was a minor nation, itself under the rule of the Medes. There was no way it had the power to rescue anyone. It would be a little like in WWII, if instead of the US coming to the aid of the Allies, the Bahamas had come to the rescue. It just wouldn’t have had the same impact. At the time the prophecies were given, the Persians simply did not possess the power needed to defeat Babylon.

In a later prophecy, Jeremiah predicted that the kings of Media would be the ones to destroy Babylon. In other words, the Gentile king that Isaiah named would one day rule the Medes. He had to first defeat the powerful nation of Media before he could even set his sights on Babylon.

As I studied history, I realized how many miracles God had to work for this part of the prophecy to be fulfilled, in order for the Persian king named in Isaiah to become the ruler of Media. It gave me a deeper appreciation of God’s influence, power, and protection over nations as well as individuals throughout time.

This was the story I had to tell because I found it incredibly encouraging. It doesn’t matter how impossible the circumstances; God will find a way!

What are some key Scripture passages that inspired The Peasant King?

In addition to the prophetic verses I used from Isaiah 45:4-5, Isaiah 44:24, 28, and Jeremiah 51:11, one verse captured what is a central theme in this novel. When Israel was about to begin its conquest of the Promised Land, Moses told them that God would drive the nations out little by little, rather than all at once (Deuteronomy 7:22). Often, we find this to be the case in our own lives. God’s transformations and impartations come little by little. They are a process rather than instant cures. Jemmah, who struggles with a painful situation, is learning to navigate God’s little-by-little grace rather than the all-at-once her heart desires.

Jemmah, your protagonist, thinks of herself as unexceptional. Why do you think many of us feel we are too ordinary to be used by God in big ways?

On the one hand, we really are ordinary. We are the girl next door, the average student, the run-of-the-mill mother, the regular Joe. The mirror shows us an ordinary face with an ordinary mind and an ordinary body. It’s easy to stop your story there. To see that much and no more. And to conclude that God needs someone more extraordinary to accomplish anything important. The problem is that when we think that way, we utterly miss the spectacular reality that God has made us in his own image. More astounding still, through Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in us (Romans 8:11). This means that as followers of Jesus, no one is ordinary.

I think God’s view of who is extraordinary is radically different from ours. The Father looks for obedience, for love, for patience, for faith. These are the qualities that make us more like Jesus, and therefore, extraordinary.

What did you learn while writing The Peasant King?

My research reminded me that the will of God in this world is opposed. The plans of God will meet resistance. Every heavenly promise has an obstruction. But our Father is the God of the impossible. In studying secular history alongside biblical promise, I was astounded by the way God broke through every barrier to fulfill his plan. And he is still doing that today!

We are delighted Tessa Afshar shared some of the background of this story. The Peasant King releases November 7. Be sure and order your copy now.

Tessa Afshar and The Hidden Prince

Tessa Afshar is an award-winning author of biblical and inspirational historical fiction. 

She holds a Master of Divinity from Yale University, where she served as cochair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. 

After working in women's ministry for nearly twenty years, Tessa became a full-time writer and speaker. 

Tessa and her husband live in New England, where they proudly tend their mediocre garden.

She is the bestselling author of Jewel of the Nile. Tessa has written a new and thrilling tale of a woman who feels she has no future but soon discovers the fate of nations may rest in her hands. 

The beloved daughter of Jewish captives in Babylon, Keren is sold into Daniel’s household to help her family survive. She becomes Daniel’s most trusted scribe, while taking lessons and swordsmanship training alongside Daniel’s sons and their best friend, Jared. But after a tragic accident changes the course of her life, Keren finds herself in a foreign country, charged with a mysterious task: teaching a shepherd boy how to become a lord. When she overhears whispers that hint at his true identity, she realizes she must protect him from the schemes of a bloodthirsty king. 

Jared cannot forgive Keren. Still, he finds himself traveling over mountains to fetch her back to the safety of home. When he discovers the secret identity of Keren’s pupil, Jared knows he must help protect him. Love battles bitterness as they flee from the king’s agents, trying to save the boy who could one day deliver their people from captivity.

In her novels, you will find laughter and tears. You may find love stories that capture your imagination. Tessa says, "But my dearest hope is that by the last page, you are closer to God, and closer to your true self."

https://tessaafshar.com/

Faith in Your Writing Can Produce a Harvest of Gold

By Tessa Afshar

In a recent interview, Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, who has sold over 38 million books, wrote: The temptation to give up, to surrender, is very, very strong. And you have to have faith in the work that you’re doing. You have to have faith that as dark and unlikely and as dreary as things may seem, that it’s worth pursuing.     

Most writers need to contend with the temptation to give up. I have three published books, with a contract for the fourth. Recently, we celebrated the launch of my third book, Harvest of Gold, in the Mark Twain House and Museum. I was the first inspirational writer they sponsored. The event marked the largest turnout of any author event they had promoted in their home venue. Their bookstore sold out of my books and they included me in the list of their summer reading brochure. And yet, I came home that evening wondering if I should surrender. Give up already.     

Because writing is hard. It means constant sacrifice. Even giants like Hosseini get to the point of wanting to throw in the towel on a certain project. So how do you resist that temptation? How do you hold on to a work that has potential, or even to the dream of writing itself?     

While I don’t have a remedy for discouragement, I have several sources of strength to which I turn when discouragement descends.     

First, for me, writing is not a hobby. It’s not even a job. It is a call. I believe I was created to do this. The Bible says that God created us in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us (Ephesians 2:10). I believe, in my life, part of that work is writing. So what shall I say when things become hard or seem untenable? Shall I walk away from God’s purpose? Shall I ditch my destiny just because it’s hard?     

Second, I have writing partners whose opinion I trust. If they felt I was wasting my time over a certain project, they would tell me. Just as they wouldn’t let me walk out the door with toilet paper stuck to my skirt, they wouldn’t let me work on a book that had nothing to offer.     

Writing makes me myopic. I can’t tell good from bad in my own work when I am too close to it. I tend to have a negative perception of my writing. It’s easy for me to think doom and gloom about my work. So I trust my critique partners to help me discern whether my perceptions of failure are accurate.     

Third, I take a break. If I am under a deadline, that break might be for a few hours. If I have the luxury of time, I step away for a week in order to gain a fresh perspective.     

Most of us struggle with some degree of discouragement. You don’t win victory by never having such feelings, but by resisting them. By overcoming and fulfilling your destiny.

______________________________________________________________________

Tessa Afshar was voted “New Author of the Year” by the Family Fiction sponsored Reader’s Choice Awards 2011 for her novel, Pearl in the Sand. Her book, Harvest of Rubies was nominated for the 2013 ECPA Book Award (formerly known as the Gold Medalion) in the fiction category and won the Grace Award for best Women’s Fiction in the same year. World Magazine chose Harvest of Rubies as one of four notable books of the year. Tessa was born in Iran to a nominally Muslim family, and lived there for the first fourteen years of her life. She moved to England where she survived boarding school for girls and fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, before moving to the United States permanently. Her conversion to Christianity in her twenties changed the course of her life forever. Tessa holds an MDiv from Yale University where she served as co-chair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. She has spent the last fourteen years in full-time Christian service in New England.