Musician and warrior, shepherd and poet, anointed of God and guilt-ridden sinner, the biblical King David is a compelling and contradictory figure. In her latest work of historical fiction, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks (“March,” “People of the Book,” “Caleb’s Crossing”) heightens those contradictions, and offers a gritty, bloody, passionate look at a deeply flawed man and ruler.
“The Secret Chord” is told in the first person, from the point of view of the biblical prophet who counsels, and sometimes chastises, David. But, in a somewhat awkward contrivance, the narrative also draws on the prophet’s authorized interviews with others once close to the king, including his loving mother, his drunkard brother and his bitterly estranged first wife.
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