The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

I just finished listening to this on audio book yesterday and I have to say that it is one of the best books I have read (or should I say listened to) this year!!

The Red Tent is the story of Jacob's daughter Dinah. She is mentioned in Genesis in the Bible and in Chapter 34 we are told the story of what happened to her. What Anita Diamant has done is filled in the outlines as provided in the Old Testament, telling stories of what it was like growing up as the only daughter of Jacob, of her life with her mothers, what it was like to practice as a midwife in those times. In the Bible, once we here of the events as they occurred at Shechem we hear no more, and here Diamant takes Dinah on an adventure that leads Dinah to live in Egypt.

The story as written by Diamant is touching, and surprising, and gives plenty of thought provoking suggestions of how life was lived in ancient times. The use of the household gods throughout the story surprised me a lot, but I can see how Diamant builds on what we have been told in the Bible and taken her story to this point from those references. I was so interested in this story I did find myself referring back to the Old Testament to try and work out which parts of the story were directly from there, and which parts were enhancements.

Rating 5/5

Edit: My full review can be found

here

Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Beastmomma