Ellie, a young American photojournalist, finds herself in the Jerusalem of 1947. She unwittingly becomes a pawn in a political chess game when she photographs some ancient scrolls discovered by Bedouins. David seems to love her dearly, but Moshe has a purpose and commitment in life that intrigues her more than she can say. Through it all, Ellie discovers a people, a spirit and a person who profoundly change the direction of her life. This first book in THE ZION CHRONICLES vividly portrays the intense struggle of the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the forces, within and without, which engulf the Middle East in conflict and controversy even today.

THE GATES OF ZION vividly portrayed both the indomitable courage and hope of the Jewish people streaming into Israel after the Holocaust as well as their intense battle to protect their new homeland. The sequel, A DAUGHTER OF ZION, centers around a returning Jewess named Rachel who survived the Nazi desolation, but only at a great personal cost. Smuggled into the besieged Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, she discovers members of her long-lost family. Rachel decides she cannot leave the Old City or the people who stand as one thin line between its survival. When secrets of her past are uncovered, she is discredited before the very people she wants so desperately to help. Alienated from her own people and left in despair, she is not aware of the enemy forces which threaten her very life A SWEEPING HISTORICAL NOVEL OF A YOUNG NATION STRUGGLING TO KEEP ITS MANDATE AND A YOUNG WOMAN STRUGGLING FOR HER LIFE.

The first two books in THE ZION CHRONICLES, The Gates of Zion and its sequel, A Daughter of Zion, graphically portrayed the courage and hope of the Jewish people streaming into Israel after the Holocaust. The drama of history and the heart-stopping life-and-death struggle of a nation are captured by bestselling author Bodie Thoene in the lives of the people who live on these pages. The Return to Zion opens during the final month of British occupation in Palestine. With Moshe the target of a dangerous conspiracy and Rachel imprisoned behind the walls of the Old City, David and Ellie marshall efforts in the last-ditch attempts of the Jewish Agency to arm its people against the onslaught that surely will come on the day the British forces leave Palestine. ENGULFED IN DARKNESS AND HOPELESSNESS, THEY WONDERED WHAT DIFFERENCE THE PROMISES TO ISRAEL MADE NOW?

The fourth book in THE ZION CHRONICLES, A Light in Zion opens in April 1948, only six weeks before the final evacuation of the British from Israel. The dream for the rebirth of the Jewish nation now appears doomed to extinction. The British have almost totally withdrawn from any interference between the battles of the nearly unarmed Jews and the Arab soldiers of Haj Amin Husseini. The eve of Passover finds the Jewish sector of Jerusalem being starved into submission by an Arab siege. While Moshe and his Jewish troops risk their lives to open the Arab-held pass of Bab el Wad for a food convoy to save their people, David and Ellie search the Mediterranean for a freighter loaded with weapons for the Muslim Jihad and the bands of Arab soldiers who still vow to drive the Jews into the sea. And Rachel's mother-heart yearns over her fever-ravaged infant.... BOUND BY DESTINY YET OVERWHELMED BY ODDS, IS THERE ANY "LIGHT IN ZION"?

The fifth book in THE ZION CHRONICLES, The Key to Zion opens with the British in the final stages of their military evacuation from Palestine. Haj Amin Husseini and the Arab Palestinians have been impatiently awaiting this day, but their power has gradually eroded. Five Mid Eastern nations have gathered around the tiny country to divide it up for themselves, totally ignoring the interests of the Palestinians in their greedy conspiracy to destroy the Jews. While the Jewish Haganah frantically trains its pilots in fighter planes which they, ironically, have bought from Germany—Moshe is still attempting to supply the Old City of Jerusalem with food. Even before statehood is declared on May 14, 1948, full-scale fighting breaks out between the Arabs and the Jews with no intervention from the British. And caught in the middle are the fleeing Palestinian refugees clogging the roads in front of the incoming armies. THE KEY TO ZION SIGNALS THE HOUR OF DESTINY

Includes -Key to Zion, Light in Zion, Return to Zion Daughter of Zion, Gates of Zion