Starred review from August 7, 2023
Marmery’s stellar sophomore novel (after On Wilder Seas) centers on Lilith, Adam’s first wife in the Garden of Eden. The story begins with Adam and Lilith living fruitfully in Eden under the watchful eyes of their gods: Yahweh, The Almighty, and Asherah, Giver of Life and Queen of Heaven. When Adam rapes Lilith, she runs from Eden to seek help from Asherah, in the process gaining her own wings and immortality but angering Yahweh. As Lilith soars over Earth, she uncovers Yahweh’s secrets: Eden is not the paradise she thought it was, and Lilith and Adam are not the only humans in existence. As Lilith’s eyes are gradually opened, she falls in love with Samael, the Angel of Death, and tries in vain to save Asherah from her violent fate in the Underworld. Marmery brilliantly recasts classic Bible stories, giving Lilith the goal of restoring women to a place of power and including her in such well-known events as Noah’s Ark and Queen Jezebel’s marriage to King Ahab. This feminist reimagining of the Bible will grip readers. Agent: Ella Kahn, DKW Literary.
October 1, 2023
In the tradition of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent (1997), this is a feminist take on biblical and ancient history through the eyes of Lilith, Adam's first wife, who, according to some accounts, preceded Eve. As the book opens, Lilith adores Adam, but before long she has many complaints about him, including bossiness and lack of imagination. A disgruntled immortal, she's soon on a quest to find her goddess mother, Asherah. In the lush language that characterizes the novel, she describes her airborne view as she escapes the Garden of Eden: "Prairies of swaying grass as far the eye can see. Frozen northlands, the very sea turned to tumbling ice....To the south: dense, boiling jungles that steamed when it rained." She traverses continents across thousands of years. She spends time with Noah and his offspring, detailing the man's unpleasantness and her conflicts with his wife, as well as with less familiar biblical and mythological ancestors. Lilith has mortal qualities--she gives birth and loses a son to death--and grieves like a human. But like an immortal, she trucks with gods and goddesses, couples with the angel of death, visits the underworld, and travels through ancient cultures, immersing herself in their mythology, with her anger always close at hand. Although her female-centric vision makes a compelling throughline, there isn't much philosophizing; this book is all action. It poses the question of why God is male in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. As demonstrated by historical notes at the end of the book, Marmery has researched religious traditions and ancient cultures to create a sweeping fairy tale, synthesizing all this material so Lilith's multimillennia romp holds together as one story. Quick and imaginative, this is an engaging feminist revision of the ancient world's Abrahamic religions.
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October 15, 2023
Marmery reimagines and expands the legend of Lilith with a feminist twist. The daughter of God and the goddess Asherah, the Holy Mother, Lilith is made the first woman, the partner of Adam but not his equal. Adam refers to Lilith condescendingly as his helpmeet, establishing the book's theme: the total degradation of women and their subjection to men. When Adam rapes her, Lilith flees from the Garden, only to return in the form of a serpent to tempt Adam's second wife, Eve. Lilith then becomes the lover of Samael, the Angel of Death, and they go in search of the Holy Mother. They find her in a greatly reduced state in Sheol, in the shadow of which she dies. Many adventures ensue thereafter, until finally, after a lengthy search, Lilith finds the prophet, whose identity comes as a surprise. Together, the two travel, preaching the Gospel of the Mother. This is a beautifully written novel of ideas that's sure to provoke thought--and perhaps controversy--in its treatment of traditional Christianity.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.