On Monday night, Oct. 8, five local women were in the Courtyard Gallery. Four were early arrivals for the Idyllwild Reading Group’s monthly discussion and the other was an artist hanging her work.

The conversation drifted back to the book we had discussed the previous month, “The Dove Keepers” by Alice Hoffman. This historical novel is set in the isolated ancient fortress of Masada which was built in the first century.

Situated as it is in the remote Judean desert overlooking the Dead Sea, it was only rediscovered by modern archeologists in the 20th century and is little known.

Still, of the five female residents of this small town of Idyllwild, incredibly three of the five women have visited Masada.

Erin O’Neill
Fern Valley

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