Gestures of Hope to Gaza

By M. Russo

The eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea has been subjected to violence for more than two years and even far more than two thousand years. This historical novel focuses on the Roman occupation of the coast in the first century B.C.E. as experienced through the life of a seamstress of Yafa, later called Jaffa, and now Tel Aviv and gestures she is impelled to perform. The story reveals the arcane history before Christ of the last independent Queen of Israel and her rival sons, and the well-known exploits of the Roman Generals Pompey, Caesar, Mark Anthony, Octavian and Egyptian rivals and bedfellows Ptolemy and Cleopatra.

In a time of violent madness and exploitation by her own rulers, the story explores what holds the human spirit together and persevering in a maelstrom of ambition. As in his other books, the author immerses the readers in the role that language played and even the impact the changes of language had on tradition and sacred writings while revealing what historically happened to so many well-known names of the era while focusing on what was the life of the barely known. Filled with historical tidbits like the reason the head of Cicero was displayed in Rome, the book is both engrossing and frightening. Frightening in the recognition of how the little the human heart has changed except for its arrogance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G2B6LFHY
• ISBN13: 9798274422468
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"