This is the story of Herod the Great's mother and how she brought the Arabic world of Nabataea and the western world of Rome to the Land of Israel. The Middle East, 76 BCE. Internal power struggles consume Jerusalem's attention while surrounding nations manipulate events for their own purposes. Two young women from opposite worlds-Pninah, a poor Jewish girl prone to seizures and Cypros, a Nabataean princess-are thrust by violent events into a collision course with each other and history. Bitter for Sweet carries on the tradition of intense, lyrical, and deeply moving historical fiction started in the award-winning Keziah's Song and Blind Man's Labyrinth. By capturing the era and its people with his characteristic raw intimacy and plainsong prose style, Daryl Potter brings the story of Herod the Great's mother and a fateful Roman invitation vividly to life. Bitter for Sweet is a tale about hope's consequences that you will remember for the rest of your life.