Eve
by Elissa Elliott

In this mesmerizing debut novel, Elissa Elliott blends biblical tradition with recorded history to put a powerful new twist on the story of creation’s first family. Here is Eve brought to life in a way religion and myth have never allowed–as a wife, a mother, and a woman. With stunning intimacy, Elliott boldly reimagines Eve’s journey before and after the banishment from Eden, her complex marriage to Adam, her troubled relationship with her daughters, and the tragedy that would overcome her sons, Cain and Abel. From a woman’s first awakening to a mother’s innermost hopes and fears, from moments of exquisite tenderness to a climax of shocking violence, Eve explores the very essence of love, womanhood, faith, and humanity.

I've had this novel since it was first published in 2009. I seem to remember reading a good review of it in the Washington Post but I'm not real sure why I acquired this one. It's a fictional account of the Adam and Eve story with some major deviations from Genesis. It is told from the perspective of Eve and her three daughters: Naava, Aya, and Dara. Naava is the beautiful older daughter who is very self-centered. Aya is the middle daughter who was born with a crippled foot but who manages to look out for the family and Dara is the youngest daughter who is compassionate and naive. The story focuses on the family and what leads up to Cain killing Abel. Elliott places the family in the Euphrates river valley after the expulsion from Eden and nearby is a large group of Sumerians building the city of Inanna. These people already have an advanced civilization and worship many different gods. So Cain interacts with these people, Dara ends up getting traded to the city-dwellers for some of their favors, and Naava falls for the prince of the city. (I don't seem to remember this happening in my Sunday School lessons!) In general, the family of Adam and Eve seem very dysfunctional in this novel with much infighting leading up to the tragic murder of Abel.

Overall, this was a somewhat interesting take on the Genesis story. In the afterword to the novel, Elliott explains some of her reasoning for her inclusion of the Sumerians, etc. However, only a very mild recommendation overall.

Sending to a Bookmooch.com member in Ohio. Enjoy!

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