Wisdom and Folly: Michele Israel Harper

By Kelly Bridgewater

Today, I have an extra special treat for you. My friend and fellow Indiana ACFW member, Michelle Israel Harper, (Hi Michelle!!!) just released her first book Wisdom and Folly, and I wanted to share this story with you. It is a great book! So here is my thoughts on Part 1. I will do a similar review on Part II after I read it, so come back later. Okay.

Synopsis (From Amazon):

Wisdom. She may have crafted the worlds by the Maker’s design, she may have been by His side since the beginning, but her heart aches. Her sister is gone. Defected, to a group of rebels who loathe their Creator with every fiber in their beings, who plot His downfall. Her new assignment? Fight them. Defeat them. But how can she fight her sister, when all she wants to do is bring her home?

Folly. Fury seethes within her. Jealous of the attention the Maker lavished on her sister, she turned to a new master and became his favorite. Or so she thought. Determined to prove herself, to become invaluable, she realizes destroying her sister just may be the key to Lucifer’s heart. Her plan? Engage Wisdom. Distract her, defeat her. If only there wasn’t the minor detail she wasn’t counting on. Missing her sister.

My Thoughts:

From Amazon

I have read John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost while in graduate school. It was a nice change from all the other stories I had to read in school. The poem is about the angels: Satan, the fallen angels, and the good angels, and their perspective on the new human race that God had created on planet Earth. It shows the fall of Satan and how he persuaded Adam and Eve to take a bite from the forbidden tree.

Michele Israel Harper in her debut novel, Wisdom and Folly: Sisters Part I, created a similar story but with a twist. The twist is having the story centers around two girl angels who happen to be sisters named Wisdom and Folly. While Folly wants to follow Satan, Wisdom doesn’t understand her sister’s desire to ignore the Lord. The story tells important Bible stories like David, Solomon, and Noah. Harper allows us to see the stories from a fresh and new perspective.  There are even hints of future Biblical events that I know are going to happen. Harper does a great job at inviting me into the description of hell and Heaven. I really feel like she did her research and made both places come to life for me. There were even some moments of me cringing as she described some of the fallen people in Hell.  Harper really allowed me to understand by allowing me to climb into Wisdom and Folly’s skin. I felt their struggle as they hurt and were happy.

Fans of Biblical fiction, angel stories, or a well-written story will want to pick this up. I anxiously await Part II because I want to see what happens to Folly and Wisdom and how far through the Bible does Harper take her story. Wisdom and Folly is definitely a great book written by a debut author, but she held my attention the whole time while I anxiously turned the pages.

I received a complimentary copy of Wisdom and Folly from Michele and the opinions stated are all my own. 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase Wisdom and Folly

A little bit about Michele:

From Michele's Amazon Author Page

Michele Israel Harper is an addict. To books, to writing--if it includes ink and paper, she's all over it. When she found out she could write books instead of simply read them...well, let's just say she's rarely been seen outside of her office since.

She adores her writer's group, the Heartland Christian Writers, and has no idea what she would do without the American Christian Fiction Writers. Being voted treasurer for her local Indiana Chapter of ACFW just about sent her into a happy coma. Which, you know, she's very much familiar with since that happens at the end of every good book she reads.

Visit her website at www.MicheleIsraelHarper.com if you want to know more about her!