Haddasah was born in to a loving, wealthy Jewish family in the Persian Empire's capital city of Susa. But before she even comes of age her world is swept away by events over which she has no control. Her parents murdered, she is left with only one living relative, her much older cousin, Mordecai, who shelters her as his own daughter. Just when life regains a semblance of normality, on the eve of her betrothal, she is taken against her will into the King's harem, where she assumes a new name and is admonished to never speak of her family or heritage.

Over the course of a year, she had become an orphan and an outcast. Yet even here she is destined to serve the purposes of God. As Mordecai prophesied, she was born for such a time as this.