Until the Mountains Fall by Connilyn Cossette

If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.-Deuteronomy 25:5 ESV


I love Biblical fiction. You can never exhaust the riches found in scripture. I am always amazed at storytellers who take scripture and teach us something about grace and God. Until the Mountains Fall is one such story.

Until the Mountains Fall, by author Connilyn Cossette is the 3rd book in her Cities of Refuge series. In the Old Testament, a city of refuge was a place where a person could go if they had accidentally killed another person, and are a beautiful picture of the person of Jesus. You can learn more about the cities of refuge in Joshua 20 and Numbers 35. In her latest novel, Cossette tells us the story of Rivkah, the daughter of the head priest, who lives in Kedesh, one of the six cities of refuge.

As the story opens, Rivkah is being given in marriage, a levirate marriage, to her late husband’s brother, Malakhai, and she is not happy about it. Gidal, her late husband, has just recently died, and her father has arranged this marriage very quickly to Malakhai, whom she has known since childhood.

According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, a levirate marriage is “a form of marriage prescribed by the Law of Moses in which a man was required to marry the widow of a brother who died with no male heir. The term “levirate” means “husband’s brother.” The purpose of the law was to provide an heir for the dead brother, thereby preserving his name and estate. The law also was designed to provide for the welfare of the widows. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)”

Because of her displeasure about the marriage, Rivkah takes matters into her own hands, and makes a very poor decision. She doesn’t understand how Malakhai feels towards her, and she flees Kedesh.

I love the story. But at the beginning of the story I did not like Rivkah. She made me so mad! As readers, we can see things the characters cannot see. So, we can sit on the other side of the pages so to speak, and scream, “Noooo! Don’t do it!” But alas, they make their own choices anyway. She was unhappy, which I get. But she was throwing away something that would be good for her, even though she couldn’t see it.

Later on in the novel, my heart softened toward Rivkah. Slowly, the author was able to weave some sympathy and compassion for her into the story and into my heart. I felt very much connected to Rivkah and began to really like her. Just like this story's main character,  I have made my own choices and ran from people who loved me into great trouble and distress. But God was there to clean up my mess, pick me up, and help me start over. God is always looking out for us.

I don’t want to give away all the details or surprises of the story, and there are many, so I cannot say much more. But it is worth it to follow the journey of Rivkah and Malakhai to find out how their story unfolds. I cried multiple times as I traveled the road with them. God is a God of rescue even in our darkest hour.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who loves biblical or historical fiction. Cossette has taken just one small portion of scripture and taught us so much.

I also recommend this book to homeschooling families who have high school age students. If you follow the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education, this could be considered a great living book for studying ancient civilizations and the Bible.

As a way to celebrate launch day, which is Tuesday July 2, I will be giving away two copies of Until the Mountains Fall on my blog! Please leave a comment and tell me if you have ever read any biblical fiction before, and if so what do you like about it.  I will randomly choose a winner from the comments on Friday, July 5th. (Open to U.S. residents only.)

*Update:  The winners of the copies of Until the Mountains Fall are Aryn the Libraryan and Jennifer Hibdon!  Congratulations! Please send your address to bethlisteningtohim@gmail.com, in order to receive your book.  Thank you so much for participating, and I hope you enjoy Until the Mountains Fall!

To learn more about the author, please visit her website at https://www.connilyncossette.com/.

To learn more about all three books in the Cities of Refuge series, please click on each book title.

A Light on the Hill

Shelter of the Most High

Until the Mountains Fall

To read an interview with the author, go here to Library Lady's Kid Lit blog.Disclosure Statement: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.