The Red Tent

Synopsis:

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons in the Book of Genesis.

Told in Dinah’s voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoil on ancient womanhood – the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers – Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah – the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that are to sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah’s story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate, immediate connection.

Review:

I love how Anita Diamant can take a person who is so briefly mentioned in the bible, and weave a story around her and, for the most part, stay true to Scripture. The weaving of the truth and fiction makes Dinah become real to the reader.

The life she led and the experiences she had could all have happened to her according to the times in which she lived. That is what makes historical novels interesting and fascinating.

I did notice, however, that the end of the story is a quite different than that of the biblical account. In this fictional version–as in the real–Joseph forgives his brothers and takes care of his family. However, unlike the biblical account, Joseph is angry and still harbors resentment against his father, Jacob. I wondered why her account of Joseph was different.

It is understandable that the fictional character Dinah is woven into the story when there is no biblical record of events. Since Dinah is not mentioned in the part of the story where Joseph is reunited with his family there is no need to alter the facts.

While liberties with facts are to be expected in an historical novel, the addition of a character like Dinah should not change the real events of the biblical story—especially when Joseph’s forgiveness and acceptance of his family despite his treatment at their hands is the main point.

The story of Joseph is a lesson in forgiveness and restoration. Genesis 50:20-21 says, “’as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid, I will provide for you and your little ones.’ So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.“

Despite my reservations on this point I did enjoy reading The Red Tent. If you are grounded enough in Scripture to know the difference between fact and fiction you will not be led astray and will enjoy reading this novel.

Chris Walker

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