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A triumphantly feminist retelling of ancient creation myths in the tradition of Madeline Miller and Claire North.
Lyrically rendered, this epic U.S. debut tells the story of the woman known as Adam's first wife and her fall from Paradise and quest for revenge.
Before Eve, there was Lilith.
Lilith and Adam are equal and happy in the Garden of Eden. Until Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will and lie beneath him. She refuses—and is banished forever from Paradise.
Demonized and sidelined, Lilith watches in fury as God creates Eve, the woman who accepts her submission. But Lilith has a secret: she has already tasted the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Endowed with Wisdom, she knows why Asherah—God's wife and equal, the Queen of Heaven—is missing. Lilith has a plan: she will rescue Eve, find Asherah, restore balance to the world, and regain her rightful place in Paradise.
Lilith's quest for justice drives her throughout history, from the ziggurats of Ancient Sumer, to the court of Israel's Queen Jezebel, and to the side of a radical preacher in Roman Judea. Noah's wife, Norea, Jezebel and Mary Magdalene all play their part in Lilith's enlightenment. In the modern age, as she observes the catastrophic consequences of a world built on inequality, Lilith finally understands what must be done to correct the wrong done to women—and all humankind—at the beginning of time.
Inspired by ancient myths and suppressed scriptures, Lilith is a thought-provoking and ambitious novel with an evocative literary voice and a triumphantly engaging heroine.
"Stellar ... This feminist reimagining of the Bible will grip readers."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Prepare your feathers for a ruffling: Lilith makes The Red Tent seem tame. It is "speech that cannot be silenced"—a ferocious, heterodox mythic novel that upends notions of divinity, femininity versus masculinity, and human beings' responsibility toward one another and the earth."
—Foreword Reviews (starred review)
"A sweeping fairy tale...Quick and imaginative...An engaging feminist revision of the ancient world's Abrahamic religions."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Illuminating, fascinating and important—a fierce and valuable addition to feminist myth-retellings."
—Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne
"Exquisite prose brings this compelling, highly relevant tale of Adam's first wife to life."
—Laura Shepperson, Sunday Times bestselling author of Phaedra
"Electric and empowering."
—Niamh Boyce, No. 1 bestselling author of Her Kind
"An utterly illuminating novel—original, bold, compelling—which sweeps the reader along on a fierce 6000 year journey of womanhood, power and vengeance."
—Susan Stokes Chapman, author of Pandora
This information about Lilith was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
For many years, Nikki Marmery worked as a journalist, editing magazines about foreign exchange and credit trading. She now writes historical fiction from a small village in the Chilterns.
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