The Red Tent

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

An imag­i­na­tive, com­pelling story set in ancient Mesopotamia, Canaan and Egypt, offers read­ers a rare insight into life as a bib­li­cal woman—in par­tic­u­lar, Dinah, only daugh­ter of Jacob.

While the author, Anita Dia­mant main­tains her inter­pre­ta­tion is purely fic­tional (food sounded delec­table), she has clearly researched her topic with great detail and there are fas­ci­nat­ing and colour­ful glimpses into the lives of these his­tor­i­cal bib­li­cal char­ac­ters such as Rachel and Leah. It brings them to life as women of great strength, char­ac­ter and intelligence.

Dinah nar­rates her own story, vividly trac­ing her jour­ney from life as a young girl into adult­hood and beyond.

It gives read­ers insight into all aspects of life in these times—from giv­ing birth, death, hon­our and the intri­cately woven rela­tion­ships that must have existed in the tribes of old. In essence, it gives Dinah a voice.

Says the author: ‘I was drawn to retell the bib­li­cal story of Dinah in large part because of her silence. In Gen­e­sis 34, Dinah’s expe­ri­ence is described and char­ac­ter­ized by the men in her fam­ily, who treat her as a rape vic­tim, which in that his­tor­i­cal set­ting meant she was irre­deemably ruined and degraded. Because she does not say a word, I found it easy to imag­ine an alter­na­tive telling to the story, in which Dinah is not a pas­sive vic­tim but a young woman who makes choices and acts on her own initiative.’

A cap­ti­vat­ing read.

Anita Dia­mant