She was an Orphan. She was an Outcast. She was a Queen

Biblical Fiction Novelist Paula K. Parker Unveils

“If I Perish: A Queen’s Sacrifice”

Amazon.com bestselling author and playwright Paula K. Parker and WordCrafts Press are thrilled to announce her latest novel, If I Perish: A Queen’s Sacrifice, which released to retail today, October 30, 2024, in hardback, trade paperback, and all major ebook formats. Set amidst the rise of the Persian Empire during the reign of Xerxes the Great, the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid dynasty, Paula’s tale follows the journey of a young Jewish girl named Hadassah who lost her community, her family, and even her name, before finally becoming the queen of the most powerful empire in the ancient world.

Hadassah was born into a loving, wealthy Jewish family in the Persian Empire’s capital city of Susa. But before she even comes of age, her world is swept away by events over which she has no control. Her parents murdered, she is left with only one living relative, her much older cousin, Mordecai, who shelters her as his own daughter. Just when life regains a semblance of normality, on the eve of her betrothal, she is taken against her will into the King’s harem, where she assumes a new name and is admonished to never speak of her family or heritage.

Over the course of a year, she has become an orphan and an outcast. Yet even here she is destined to serve the purposes of God. As Mordecai prophesied, she was born for such a time as this.

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, Haman said to the King, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them.”

When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

Mordecai sent a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, and he told the messenger to instruct Esther to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

Esther sent word to Mordecai: “All the king’s people know that any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned is to be put to death—unless the king extends the gold scepter to spare their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

Mordecai answered: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent, deliverance will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

The Holy Bible

The Book of Esther

“I love writing biblical fiction, dressing the familiar characters from our Sunday school days in flesh and bone and turning them into real people as opposed to the flannelgraph cutouts or stained-glass saints we so often think of them as,” muses novelist Paula K. Parker. “But I must confess, writing the story of Esther was never on my radar. I always thought it was such a sad story. Yet my good friend, Tracy Sugg—an amazing sculptor who always seems to find the truth hidden away in a block of marble or a lump of clay—continued encouraging me to look through the sadness to find the real story of sacrificial love. Thus began my two-year journey of in-depth research through biblical and secular archaeology, ancient writings, and contemporary scholarship before I felt qualified to write about one of the most remarkable women of all time.”

If I Perish: A Queen’s Sacrifice, which debuted in pre-release at Number 10 on Amazon.com’s Hot New Releases in Religious Biblical Fiction chart, is already generating considerable excitement among fans. 

“There are many in our world who have the ability to write, however, there are special ones who have the gift of writing. Paula Parker is one of those with a gift. I sat mesmerized as I followed the lives of these characters that I have read about for many years. I laughed, cried, cheered—for or against. No one should let this book pass by without it becoming a part of their library. It will be a favorite for years to come,” declared Donna Williams, Co-Founder of EPIC Ministries, Inc.

“If I Perish reflects that artistic mastery in Paula’s writings,” adds sculptor Tracy Sugg. “When you open the book, you step back to the time of King Xerxes, discover what life was like for Jews and Persians alike. The drama and intensity is brilliantly combined with scenes that bring a tear or light-hearted laughter. You’ll catch a glimpse of what it might have been like to be an orphaned by a brutal mass murder, to be ripped away from your only surviving family member, to be being brought before a King whose whim determines whether you live or die, and ultimately having the weight of saving your entire nation cast upon your shoulders with nothing except your enduring faith that God is with you—even it if means you perish in the process. If I Perish will leave you breathless as you reach the end and suddenly realize, it is not a statement of resignation, but of Faith.”

Longtime fan Carol Swindon was vacationing overseas when she when she received her ebook version of the novel. “I was saving If I Perish for the long flight back from Japan, but I just couldn’t wait. I just finished it, and I loved it! The story of Esther is one of my favorites, and I often wonder what Bible characters were thinking as I read their stories in the Bible. Thank you, Paula, for giving a voice to those people.”