Over five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman's most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research, set in ancient israel. In 70 c.e., nine hundred jews held out for mont...Over five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman's most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research, set in ancient israel. In 70 c.e., nine hundred jews held out for months against armies of romans on masada, a mountain in the judean desert.