Greetings and welcome back for another edition of Six Sentence Sunday, a blogging experience where participants post six sentences from something they’re working on or something they’ve published. You can visit their site to check out the other participants or to join in on the fun.

This week’s sentences come from my work-in-progress, Judah and Tamar, a dramatic retelling of the Biblical story. Tamar is a young widow who, under Levirate law, must marry the next male relative to ensure the dead are not forgotten. She is resigned to her fate, but Judah, her father-in-law, is determined not to lose anymore sons to her and deals with her deviously, forcing her to take extreme measures to get what is rightfully hers. In today’s excerpt, Tamar has been contemplating her options following her discovery of Judah’s deception and finds the opportunity handed to her when a friend stops her to share gossip.

This story will become my next blog series, starting January 2013, after Full of Grace is completed, so keep an eye out for it. And let me know what you think of today’s excerpt; I appreciate your comments.

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“I heard your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” Rachel says, eyeing her mischievously. “They said he was in such a state of sorrow, he could not bear to be in the same house where Alit lived. He just prefers to throw himself into his work, though he has servants to do the shearing. And poor Shelah – to go through this after everything that happened to his family…”

Tamar knows what she is insinuating, but doesn’t let it upset her. Gossipers are good for something, she decides; and with this piece of information, she is ready to hold Judah accountable for his sins by appealing to his weakness – sex.