Sinners And The Sea

Sinners and the Sea
The Untold Story of Noah’s Wife
By Rebecca Kanner
reading group guidecustomer reviewsIn the spirit of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent comes an extraordinary debut novel that breathes life into Noah’s wife and combines history and mythology in an intensely suspenseful, page-turning narrative.

The Bible neglects to give her a name, but in this ambitious, intricately woven novel, Rebecca Kanner gives Noah’s wife a voice and a rich, complex emotional life.

Cursed with a prominent birthmark on her face that many think is the mark of a demon, she is reviled by everyone except her father. To keep her safe, he gives his virtuous daughter to the ancient and righteous Noah who takes her to the town of Sorum, a land of outcasts and pariahs.

Though the 600-year old Noah prospers there, his wife is more alone than ever, living with an aloof husband who speaks more to God than with her, trying to make friends with the violent townsfolk and raising three sons who have developed some sinful tendencies themselves. When God tells Noah to build an ark so that he, his wife, three sons, and their three wives can repopulate the earth after the flood, her trials only multiply.

Not since The Red Tent has a novel so brilliantly illuminated the plight of forgotten Biblical women. Through her protagonist’s eyes, Rebecca Kanner explores the blurring lines between right and wrong as one woman struggles to find purpose and identity in a drowning world.