Summary of Geraldine Brooks's The Secret Chord

Summary of Geraldine Brooks's The Secret Chord is a fictionalized story of the Old Testament hero and king, David.

Natan, friend and advisor to King David, receives permission to write David’s biography. David has asked Natan to use three sources who knew David before Natan met him. These include Mikhal, the first of David’s wives, Shammah, David’s older brother, and Nizevet, a member of Shammah’s household in Beit Lehem.

As he travels to meet Shammah and Nizevet, Natan thinks on how David kept the roads free of bandits, making him remember how David was once a bandit himself. That was when Natan and David met. Natan was a 10 year old herding his father’s goats when his flock wandered into David’s bandit camp. David sent Natan home with a message instructing his father to provide food and wine for the bandits. Avigail, David’s kind and wise third wife, warned Natan that David would retaliate if Natan’s father denied him…