The Last Slave is a story of redemption — and so was the process that got us to the finish line

I dreamed of inspiring the world with a novel about the Exodus from Egypt, and I came up with a perfect plot I could churn out in three months. But my husband saw so much more potential in the book than I could imagine.
If it could be meticulously sourced in Torah, it would bring the book to a whole new level. That was the start of a writing and editing collaboration that took much longer than either of us thought. The final product, The Last Slave, is a story of redemption — and so was the process that got us to the finish line

I

harbored dreams of changing the world and inspiring people around the globe with my words — something extremely difficult to achieve when no one reads your work. I had been writing for many years with little success. Languishing inside my computer were children’s series, novels, original musicals, songs, and article after article, doomed never to see the light of day.

Then, through amazing Hashgachah pratis — and for reasons completely unrelated to my dream — my husband ended up opening his own publishing company, Adir Press. I was immensely grateful that my work would find a willing audience.

The first book I published was an illustrated children’s book, Chanukah Back in Time. This was followed by Bullied, a high school novel about bullying, loss, and overcoming fear. Now it was time to write another book. I knew there were writers out there who churned out books every three months, and I was determined to be one of them. I would write an incredible, life-changing book in three months. I knew I could do it. All I needed was a story. I started racking my brain to come up with an idea.

Then it came to me. I had written a Pesach musical several years ago. It was then almost Succos; if I worked hard, I could turn my musical into a book and have it ready for Pesach.

During Succos I thought about the plot. I felt it was important to show the slavery from the beginning — how the Jews became enslaved, the Egyptian mindset, Pharaoh, Bilaam, the royal decrees, the midwives, and the rise of hatred among the Egyptians. The action would need to play out over an 80-year period. And the story would have to be told from two perspectives that would somehow tie together: Egyptian and Hebrew.

But who would be the Egyptian voice? It would have to be someone with eyes in the palace, who sympathized with the Hebrews. Basya was the perfect choice. What could be more incredible than having the princess of Egypt as my main character?

I enthusiastically told my husband my great idea, and he quickly nixed it. How could we faithfully represent the voice and mind of a tzadeikes so great that the Midrash tells us she merited to enter Gan Eden without dying?

He had a point. But I needed this character to be in the palace. Who else could it be? I scoured Shemos, searching for inspiration. And then I found her.

The Gemara cites two opinions about who retrieved Moshe’s basket from the Nile. The more famous opinion is that Basya’s arm miraculously stretched across the river. The other, which Rashi appears to favor as pshat, is that Basya’s maidservant retrieved the basket. As befitting a lady of such stature, the daughter of Pharaoh was never left alone. She had a companion continually by her side. I now had my main character — Tia, the Egyptian lady-in-waiting — and I built the rest of the story from there.