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Acknowledgements and References
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2021-10-04 09:08:26Jessica Price -Why Can’t Vashti And Esther Both Be Purim Heroines? Alma.com, March 2019
Walter Semkiw, MD, - Author - Born Again: Reincarnation Cases Involving Evidence of Past Lives, Cases Researched by Ian Stevenson, MD – President Board of Directors of the Reincarnation Research
Professor Jim B. Tucker, M.D. is Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is Director of the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies - Author - Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives
Michelle W. Malkin, MPA, MAJNM - What does it mean to me to be Jewish?Michael Shapiro – Author - Jewish Pride: 101 Reasons to Be Proud You're Jewis
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Vashti's Daughter Forward
Every year in February, the Hebrew month of Adar 14, Jews commemorate being saved from annihilation by King Ahasuerus of Shushan by celebrating the holiday of Purim and reading the Magillah scroll that tells the story of the heroic deeds of Queen Esther.But before Esther, there was Vashti, the king’s first wife. Her defiance of his order to debase herself for the amusement of his cronies led to her being banished. This paved the way for Esther to take her place as Queen and become exalted as a heroine of her time.While Vashti was never heard from again.What became of this defiant woman? What was her true motivation for defying the king’s order? Throughout the centuries, Vashti has been both vilified and praised. She’s either the bitch of the land, or the first Feminist. The argument has been raging for decades.Vashti’s Daughter definitively ends the debate.At some future time twenty-nine year old
Last Updated : 2021-08-14Vashti's Daughter Chapter One
At some future time Anna Steine, President of Steine & Steine Publishers would remember it was exactly 2:18 on a Friday afternoon in March when she returned to her office after a relatively uneventful lunch with her editorial staff to find two items on her desk. One, she was delighted to see, was an invitation to her best friend Elaine Levine’s annual Purim party. The other was a plain brown package which solicited the exact opposite reaction. Even before she touched the package, Anna knew by the size and shape, exactly what it contained, and she was furious. “JANET”, Anna screamed into the intercom. “Come into my office, NOW!” In under three seconds, Anna’s executive assistant was standing in front of her desk, visibly shaken. “How did THIS get on my desk?” Anna handed the package to Janet and pointed to the one hand-written line printed in large blue script on the front. Vashti’s Daughter by Nathaniel Braverman, Ph.D. “Did you put it here?” “No, Anna. I’ve never seen it befor
Last Updated : 2021-08-29Vashti's Daughter Chapter Three
“Look, she’s standing right behind you!” Anna shouted at Shifra, but when she turned around, there wasn’t anyone there. “I don’t understand this. A woman dressed as the Justice Tarot card was standing right behind you. I’ve been seeing her all night. I’m going to ask Elaine. Thanks for the reading, it was a bit more than I expected.” “Life always is.” Anna left the table and found Elaine refilling the wineglasses. She took hold of her friend’s arm and pulled her aside. “Elaine, I just had my cards read. That woman I’ve been seeing all night is dressed in a Justice cost
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Vashti's Daughter Chapter Two
When Anna arrived at Elaine’s Beverly Hills home, the smells of traditional Jewish food reached her nose a mere seconds before the sounds of music and laughter reached her ears. Even when they were in high school, Elaine was notorious for throwing the best parties, and Anna was very happy that her friend hadn’t lost her touch. Elaine was busy handing out greggers and other assorted noise makers, and was just able to raise her hand in a hello, which Anna returned momentarily before Elaine went back to her party guests. As Anna predicted, the women were adorned in the festive garb of Queen Esther, and then men wore robes and tunics. There was plenty of wine and plates piled high with the three corned Hamantashen cookies, filled with every fruit imaginable. There were prune, peach, cherry, and even chocolate. More plates with corned beef and pastrami on rye, sour pickles and a huge bowl of pickled herring in sour cream and, of course a huge mountain of bagels, platters of lox
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Vashti's Daughter Chapter Four
When Anna opened her eyes, she was very relieved to see the familiar surroundings of Elaine’s guest room. “Thank God!” she said out loud. Anna could smell fresh coffee coming from the kitchen, and she knew she needed at least three cups to clear her head from that strange dream she had just awoken from. Looking at the bedside clock, she was happy to see that her girlfriend had let her sleep until nearly noon. She decided she needed the coffee more than she needed a shower. She got dressed and went into the kitchen where Elaine, looking as if she had only just woken up herself, was on the phone. When she saw Anna, she motioned to the coffee and the left-over bagels. Anna helped herself, just as Elaine finished her call. “That was the cleaning
Last Updated : 2021-09-09Vashti's Daughter Chapter Five
Another dream.Anna was in a field of summer flowers and tall grass. She could hear children laughing and singing somewhere in the distance. She turned her head toward the sound. It was all so vivid she could actually smell the fragrance of the petals, and feel the cool grass between her naked toes. Although she wasn’t in the habit of lucid dreaming, Anna was quite aware she was doing just that, as she heard her voice say out loud. “This is definitely a dream.” Looking down at her body, she was shocked to see that she was shorter than the last time she was in dreamland. Judging by the sound of her voice, a great deal younger as well. She’d read a great deal about lucid dreams and in none of the books did she even remember anyone dreaming they were a younger version of themselves. “I guess this i
Last Updated : 2021-09-09Vashti's Daughter Chapter Six
“What the hell?” Anna shouted at her hand, that was now holding the annoying and persistent manuscript. “I thought Janet told me security threw this away. All right Dr. Braverman, whoever you are, you win. I’ll read your book, but not until after I finish eating this weird dinner.” Anna was very surprised how much she enjoyed the meal and added the restaurant’s app to her favorite’s list. After putting the dishes in the washer and the leftovers into the refrigerator, Anna changed into her lounging clothes and made herself comfortable on the couch with a refilled glass of wine in one hand and the manuscript in the other. She was still annoyed at the audacity of the author, but she also had to admire him for his persistence. Perhaps her curiosity was overcoming her stubbornness, Anna thought. She r
Last Updated : 2021-09-09Vashti's Daughter Chapter Seven
“So, you’re going to actually read the manuscript?” Elaine asked Anna while they were waiting for their waiter to bring their drink order.“It showed up on my desk again today, if you can believe that. It’s in my car. I’m going to make a genuine effort when I get home tonight, if I can stay awake that is.”When the waiter arrived with their drinks and asked if they were ready to order, the women told him to come back in a few minutes. They were in no hurry to return to the office.“Are you still having those dreams? Elaine asked.“Every night since your party. I’ve search on all kinds of dream interpretation websites, but there’s not a single mention about what I’ve been going through.” “You could be the first. I can’t wait to hear wha
Last Updated : 2021-09-09
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Vashti's Daughter Acknowledgements and References
Jessica Price -Why Can’t Vashti And Esther Both Be Purim Heroines? Alma.com, March 2019Walter Semkiw, MD, - Author - Born Again: Reincarnation Cases Involving Evidence of Past Lives, Cases Researched by Ian Stevenson, MD – President Board of Directors of the Reincarnation ResearchProfessor Jim B. Tucker, M.D. is Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is Director of the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies - Author - Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives Michelle W. Malkin, MPA, MAJNM - What does it mean to me to be Jewish?Michael Shapiro – Author - Jewish Pride: 101 Reasons to Be Proud You're Jewis
Vashti's Daughter Epilogue
Epilogue It was a perfect Sunday afternoon for the annual Ojai wine festival at Lake Casitas. Anna and Nate had attended the event every June since they were married. Three years ago, they were joined by their baby daughter Melody, making the event a special Braverman family outing. From the time Melody was six months old, she was completely mesmerized by the live performances. Melody’s little feet began dancing to the music even before she could walk. When she was older, she would kick and squirm in time to the music, creating quite a show for any passerby to admire. This year, instead of being confined in a stroller, Nate held Melody in his lap. Anna sat on the blanket next to them, sipping wine while they waited for the next show to beg
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty-Six
Nate and Anna followed Bibi out of the cabin as the others stayed behind busy carefully removing the paintings and crating the other artifacts in the cave. Anna held the precious book under her shirt to protect it from the elements. She hadn’t noticed that Nate had pocketed the rings that were in the box along with the hair samples Bibi had taken to the portable lab for DNA analysis. As they walked across the desert to the other side where once had been a flowing river, Anna’s mind was rerunning all the scenes she had experienced as Adara. Despite all the evidence that had just uncovered, the further she walked away from the uncovered cabin, the less she felt the connection to Adara. The one thing she did not lose was the overwhelming compulsion to keep the promise to Queen Esther that the truth about Vashti would be revealed to the world. Now that she had Vashti’s journal in hand, she needed to find a way to
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty-Five
For the next hour, Anna and Nate escaped the devastation of the past week, deeply involved with the passionate joys of the present. It wasn’t until they were basking in the afterglow that they allowed conversation to intercede. Lying with her head on his chest, his fingers gently caressing her back, Anna listened to Nate’s calm voice recite every detail that had kept him away from answering his messages over the past few weeks. Her emotions flew the gambit of shock, anger and disbelief. That Monday morning following their stroll on the pier, Nate was just about to leave for his tenure interview when he’d received a call from the NCAA head office. The head of the Syracuse investigation committee had seen the C-Span program where Henry had accused Nate of being involved with the events when he was on the basketball team and demanded he fly to Indianapolis to attend an emergency meeting.
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty-Four
If Anna had any idea what was waiting for her on Monday morning, she would have stayed in bed. The early morning June gloom enveloped the view on her drive to her office, filling her with a foreboding sense of impending disaster. Even though she knew the fog would soon burn off, revealing the clear blue sky and golden sun later that day, Anna just wanted to escape the depressing scene as quickly as she could.To put herself in a more positive mood, Anna turned up the volume on the radio and sang along with her favorite hit from the 80s; The Eye of the Tiger. She always thought it ironic that a song about fighting to overcome overwhelming defeat was written by a band called Survivor. Feeling re-energized, Anna walked out of the elevator ready, expecting to see her staff busy at their desks with compiling the data from the weekend’s book festival. What greeted her instead on her arrival was an uncha
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty-Three
Sunday afternoon on a warm spring day was the perfect way to experience the magic of the Santa Monica Pier. From the moment Anna walked under the welcome sign, the dark foreboding shadow of Henry’s broadcast was left on the other side. Walking with Nate by her side, she could feel the tension he had felt earlier fade as well. They bought a gigantic ball of cotton candy and rode the carousel like a couple of teenagers on their first date. Anna couldn’t remember the last time she had enjoyed an afternoon of simple pleasures and she was grateful for the opportunity to share it with Nate, who seemed to be enjoying the mini-vacation as much as she was. “Would you believe I’ve lived in California for over ten years and have never been to Santa Monica?”&
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty-Two
Out on the balcony, Anna and Nate quietly took in the view of the clear star-studded sky over the pacific ocean with lights of Los Angeles shining to the left. It was nights like these when Anna would sit for hours, clear her mind and simply take in the beauty of her world that reminded her of the reason she stayed in Los Angeles after her cantankerous divorce. Three years ago, she didn’t let Henry’s threats of retribution for her winning control of their company drive her from her home, and she wasn’t about to allow that to happen now. Back then, she had been alone on the balcony. Tonight she was sharing the view with a man she wanted to share much more with in the future. “It’s beauty like this that almost makes me believe in God.” Nate remarked. “I’m surprised to hear you say that, with
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty-One
The dust from Darius’ horse galloping away from the carriage crash stung Anna’s eyes. She walked toward the river’s edge in hopes she would find the book he’d thrown into the water, but there was no sign of it anywhere. She could still hear Darius’ condemnation of her and Vashti. It was hard to distinguish it from Henry’s threats she had heard only moments before.Men’s egos were the same in any era, Anna thought. Judging by the fact that all mention of Adara or Vashti after she was banished in biblical text was omitted, it was clear that Darius had made good on his threat. She wondered if his curse on her ever finding love would also become reality. When Nate first told Anna about his hearing a mysterious voice at the shrine and how he came to write Vashti’s Daughter, she had thought he had a very active imagination, but she couldn’t explai
Vashti's Daughter Chapter Thirty
After spending the morning supervising the various authors who were signing their books at each of Steine and Steine’s exhibit booths and going over her notes for the panel discussion that afternoon, Anna was grateful for a lunch break. She tried to stay as anonymous as possible to avoid the onslaught of authors who were looking to side-step the submission process by giving their query letter, or, what was worse, their entire manuscript directly to the publisher. For whatever reason, the words “no unsolicited submissions” didn’t seem to apply to them.Anna emphasized with her authors who had agreed to attend the event under the Steine and Steine banner, as well as all the independent authors at the show who had to pay the exorbitant registration fee themselves to promote their books and instead were constantly being accosted by writers who only wanted to know the magic formula they used to get their book published.&nb
