Synopses & Reviews
It is the worlds oldest tale: the story of Eve, her husband, Adam, and the tragedy that would overcome her sons…. In this luminous debut novel, Elissa Elliott puts a powerful twist on biblical narrative, boldly reimagining Eves journey. At once intimate and universal, timely and timeless, this unique work of fiction blends biblical tradition with recorded history and dazzling storytelling. And as it does, Eve comes to life in a way religion and myth have never allowedin a novel that explores the very essence of love, motherhood, faith, and humanity.
In their world they are alone…a family haunted by banishment, struggling for survival in a harsh new land. A woman who has borne and buried children, Eve sees danger shadowing those she loves, while her husband drifts further and further from the man he was in the Garden, blinded by his need to rebuild a life outside of Eden. One daughter, alluring, self-absorbed Naava, turns away from their beliefs. Another, crippled, ever-faithful Aya, harbors a fateful secret, while brothers Cain and Abel become adversaries, and Dara, the youngest, is chosen for a fate of her own.
In one hot, violent summer, by the shores of the muddy Euphrates, strangers arrive on their land. New gods challenge their own. And for Eve, a time of reckoning is at hand. The woman who once tasted the forbidden fruit of paradise sees her family unravelingas brother turns on brother, culminating in a confrontation that will have far-reaching consequences for them all.
From a womans first awakening to a mothers innermost hopes and fears, from moments of exquisite tenderness to a climax of shocking violence, Eve takes us on a breathtaking journey of the imagination. A novel that has it allromantic love, lust, cruelty, heroism, envy, sacrifice, murderEve is a work of mesmerizing literary invention by a singular new voice in fiction.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
In this mesmerizing debut novel, Elissa Elliott blends biblical tradition with recorded history to put a powerful new twist on the story of creations 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 Eves 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 womans first awakening to a mothers 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.
About the Author
Elissa Elliott is a former high school teacher. She is a contributing writer to
Books & Culture and has optioned her first screenplay. She and her husband, Daniel Elliott, live in Minnesota. This is her first novel.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
1. If you grew up in a religious setting and knew the story of the Garden of Eden before reading this novel, did Elohim [God] appear different than you expected Him to? In what way? Do you think it is valuable to look upon Him as male
and female?
2. Eve had no female role model as women do today. Who might have been her role model? How might she have figured out what she was supposed to do?
3. Each of the sisters plays a certain role in the family. Aya is the precocious, eleven-year-old food gatherer and healer. Naava is the selfabsorbed teenage weaver. Dara is the confused six-year-old who cares for the neighboring city’s youngest. How are these girls like or unlike girls you’ve known? Are their struggles similar to the struggles of girls today? How?
4. Eve steals seeds from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. What significance do the seeds play? Why does Eve think they can save her?
5. Why do you think Elohim honored Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s? Was it Elohim that sent the streak of fire from the sky or coincidence?
6. Doubt is a vital part of the story. What part does doubt play in faith? How much doubt can you express before you’re labeled a heretic?
7.What do you think the city symbolizes for Cain? For Naava? Why are they so drawn to it? How will it save or ruin them?
8. The subtitle says that Eve was the first woman, but in the book Eve’s family runs into an already burgeoning city. Do you believe Eve was the first woman, or the first Hebrew woman, or part of a great many people that were created (all at once or over time)? Why?
9. Right before Elohim throws Adam and Eve out of the Garden, He explains why He must do so: It’s because He’s afraid they will eat of the Tree of Life and live forever. If the Tree of Life is a sort of antidote to the “poison” of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, why wouldn’t He give it to them? And is there something He’s withholding from us today?
10. Aya struggles with understanding what prayer is. She doesn’t hear anything. She doesn’t know what to ask. Have you felt the same way? Do you pray, and if so, how? What is prayer to you?
11. How does the Sumerian culture of the city affect Eve’s family? What issues arise because of it?
12. If you know the story of Job, you’ll know that God allowed Satan to make him ill and destroy his family. Do you think God and Lucifer had the same agreement with Eve? Why or why not?
13. Are the dysfunctions of the first family like your own? Unlike your own? How?
14. Did your opinions of Eve, Aya, Naava, and Dara shift throughout the novel? Did the women do anything to surprise you, and if so, what?
15.We see the men of the story only through the women’s eyes. What questions would you like to have asked of Adam, Cain, Abel, and Jacan? How do you think they’d have responded?
16. Have you ever met a sort of “Lucifer” in your own life? What happened and how did it affect you?