Heather Brown Moore is a lovely woman with a huge talent.  She is also a generous and dear friend.  After I joined LDStorymakers, it was Heather who “showed me the ropes” of blogging and the power  of the blog review.  She is a hard one to keep up with, rising early in the morning to write before her kids wake up, being a devoted mother to four children, participating fully in the LDS writing community, and offering help and advice to many lucky authors.  It is only fitting that it is now my turn to review her latest book.

H.B. Moore takes the admonition to liken the scriptures to ourselves seriously.  Her writings enable us to do the same.  Her book, Alma, is well-written, with her own voice so unobtrusive that you will feel like you have lived through one of my favorite slices of the Book of Mormon.  You can feel, hear, see and taste what life was like in Central America over two millennia ago.  I have had a tough time returning.  I grew to love her fictional characters, Maia (a former wife of King Noah who had embraced the teachings of the gospel), Raquel (the widow of Abinadi), and Helam (Abinadi’s brother) nearly as much as I love Alma.  And Amulon!  He is the snake of all snakes!  Moore is careful to make him human, but as he grows in wickedness, we can see what an oily character he must have been.

It would be hard to find a story from that era that is so meticulously researched, and yet the research is so well integrated into the story that it doesn’t stand out as it would in a lesser writer’s hands.  The story of Alma the Elder, when broken down into its individual elements and challenges, is really quite suspenseful.  Moore didn’t have to speculate much, as she told the tale of the egregious King Noah, his flight into the wilderness and his death by fire.  The story of the capture of the Lamanite women by the priests of Noah was told  in an ingenious manner with a clever twist..  Amulon’s hatred of Alma and the believers was the bow string of the story, being drawn tighter and tighter with every chapter.  When the people of Alma eventually escape, and the arrow cannot be fired, the reader feels the matchless power of the God of the Universe and a profound sense of relief.  And, since you have been in Amulon’s head, you can sense what a hideous feeling of defeat he was going to have as soon as he wakes up from his divinely instituted nap!

Moore’s characterizations are stellar, and the way  she has woven her story around the well-know scriptural facts is brilliant.  She has created women for her heroes who match them in strength and endurance of hardship.  As their faith is tested and they grow in their convictions, it is easy to put yourself in their shoes, experiencing what they are enduring, and learning what they are learning.  Their love stories tenderly touch the heart.

I recommend this book, Alma, for both men and women.  It will make the life and times of this remarkable prophet live in your heart, and you won’t want it to end.

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