Product Description

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her fate is merely hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the verses of the "Book of Genesis" that recount the life of Jacob and his infamous dozen sons. The "Red Tent" is an extraordinary and engrossing tale of ancient womanhood and family honour. Told in Dinah's voice, it opens with the story of her mothers - the four wives of Jacob - each of whom embodies unique feminine traits, and concludes with Dinah's own startling and unforgettable story of betrayal, grief and love. Deeply affecting and intimate, "The Red Tent" combines outstandingly rich storytelling with an original insight into women's society in a fascinating period of early history and such is its warmth and candour, it is guaranteed to win the hearts and minds of women across the world. 'If you don't read it you'll be missing out' - Eve. 'I genuinely fell into this rich and colourful world and Dinah and Leah have stayed with me as ancestors and sisters brought to life by Anita Diamant's imaginative novel' - "Maureen Lipman".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2569 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Anita Diamant's The Red Tent is an epic celebration of womanhood, written for women everywhere, regardless of their status, creed or colour. It is the story of a woman whose life was blessed by great love and torn by tragedy, of the lessons she learned through her own experiences and those of the women, and men, whose lives she touched. Diamant has chosen as her leading lady a woman whose name alone conjures up echoes of mystery, passion and betrayal. The Red Tent is the fictional tale of Dinah, whose life, like the majority of women in the Old Testament, merits only a passing mention. It is the men in Dinah¹s life that history has remembered: her famous father Jacob, his dozen sons and especially her brother, Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat. Not religious? Don' t worry, this biblical character and the story Anita Diamant has woven from the merest hints, will appeal to all.

Strangely, even though Dinah lived her life several thousand years ago in a culture far removed from almost all of the women who will read this book, her story is as relevant and fresh as any written in recent years. This novel is as compelling for its female take on the grand themes that transcend time--birth, death, love, hate, betrayal and forgiveness­-as it is for its meticulously researched and hugely fascinating picture of everyday life as an early Jewish woman. The book's title refers to the tent where the women retired each month to pass their menstruation, and the descriptions of their time spent celebrating this fundamental rite of womanhood, and other daily customs make this a most original and inspiring book. In an age when gender and family traditions are becoming more and more diluted, The Red Tent honours women and their many and varied roles in life. Carey Green

Amazon.co.uk Review
The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters that bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.

"Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges," Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. "They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember." Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons. --Gail Hudson

Review
'If you don't read it you'll be missing out' Eve; 'I genuinely fell into this rich and colourful world and Dinah and Leah have stayed with me as ancestors and sisters brought to life by Anita Diamant's imaginative novel' Maureen Lipman

Reclaiming women who have been historically almost invisible has been a busy literary occupation for 50 years at least, and women mentioned in the bible are a rich field for imaginative re-creation. The Book of Genesis is packed with dramatic action; human motivation, feelings and the consequences of action figure far more by implication than by description. The life of Dinah is a case in point. Dinah was the only little sister to her 12 older brothers, all sons of Jacob by four different mothers, Her own mother was Leah, the first wife whom Jacob was tricked into marrying, whereas Rachel, who became the second wife, was his true beloved. In the city of Shechem, the Bible tells us, the prince of that land 'took Dinah and lay with her' and wanted to marry her. But for the 'defilement' of their sister, the sons of Jacob took a terrible revenge on the prince and everyone in his city, then took her sister back home. She is heard of no more. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant's triumph of imaginative empathy, tells Dinah's story in her own voice. The life of the little girl, nurtured by her mothers', was filled by their stories and the learning of the female rituals demanded by their many gods. These were told repeatedly in the red tent, to which the women retreated at the time of their monthly periods, and where their babies were born. Midwives needed not only their equipment of knife, string, reeds for suction and amphorae of cumin, hyssop and mint oil, but an accumulation of skills and knowledge to ease birth agonies and avoid the frequent deaths of both babies and thier mothers. The author gives Dinah these skills. The two of the three parts of this book are taken up with the women's lives in the tents of Jacob seen through the child Dinah's eyes, and make delightful reading, rich in detail, written in finely judged, vivid language, and finding credible motivation for the deep puzzles of feeling that the Bible poses. Why did Jacob not accept the prince's offer of marriage for Dinah? How did he really feel about Leah, who bore him seven sons? When Dinah drops out of the Biblical story, the author's task of re-creation becomes much harder. After all, what future could there have been for a ruined, traumatized woman like Dinah? Diamant has envisaged another possibility. Dinah curses her family and, pregnant with the son of the murdered prince, flees to Egypt and lives out a troubled and deprived period until the author finds for her an artistically satisfying and even ultimately triumphant conclusion, when she meets the powerful Zafenat-Paneh-ah of Egypt, who is, of course, her own brother Joseph. (Kirkus UK)

Customer Reviews

Compelling
One I started I couldn't put it down! I loved this book from start to finish.

Girlpower at its best
The one book every woman should read - this is the first story of girlpower - the fact that it is based on a bible story is not a big factor and could put people off, it shouldn't. It is a story of the special bond between women and their friendships. A powerful and beautiful book.

Passion and Betrayal
The fictional tale of Dinah who is only mentioned briefly in the Old Testament. I think that Anita Diamant has written a very moving tragedy of passion and betrayal using the historical background well. It is very different from Good Harbor which I read earlier. Although both titles are strongly based on the theme of friendships amongst women, just set in a different time and place. Personally I found Good Harbor easier to relate to because it is a contempory novel. However I did enjoy both novels very much and would recommend them to others.
The reviews here on amazon.co.uk are well worth reading, very varied opinions.