Adam & Eve - Hardcover

Naslund, Sena Jeter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061579270 ISBN 13: 9780061579271

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 2010

Synopsis

“This thriller is rich in brilliant discourses on religion, fanaticism, the meaning of ancient cave art, the speculative future, and love.”
—Library Journal

 

Sena Jeter Naslund, the New York Times bestselling author of Ahab’s Wife, Four Spirits, and Abundance explores both the dark nature of fundamentalism and the brightness of true faith in her dazzling novel, Adam & Eve. A provocative, eloquent, and deeply compelling story of a woman caught between two warring worlds—science and religion—Adam & Eve raises timely questions about identity, innocence, and sin, and represents a new literary high-water  mark for New York Times Notable author and Harper Lee Award-winner Naslund.

About this title

Review:

""Adam & Eve" has the potential of making not simply a splash, but a small tsunami. The novel is nothing less than a futuristic gloss on all creation, pitting religious fundamentalism against the discovery of extraterrestrial life"--Louisville Courier Journal

"[A] charming parable...but along the way, Naslund weaves into the story an effective condemnation of dogma and religious zealotry as well as an understated plea for open-mindedness and tolerance."--Boston Globe

"This is a wonderful, wonderful novel ...[Naslund] has blown a deep breath of life into Four Spirits."--Detroit Free Press

"Filled with the fear Naslund witnessed, the characters ...come to life ....Naslund succeeds splendidly in making history a page-turner."--USA Weekend

"Exceptional...A richly detailed portrait of an opulent, turbulent time, revealing the Queen's journey from frivolity to responsibility, and from palace to prison cell to be one of striking beauty and terrible loss. 4 stars."--People

"This is a brave and multifaceted book, propelled by a mission, and ...it is a page-turner."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Scrupulously researched and vividly presented...it's an irresistible story, and Naslund handles its big moments...with impressive assurance. Naslund has done her homework, and imagined her complex, bewitching protagonist in persuasive depth and detail. The result is an exemplary historical novel. "--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A really satisfying surprise ending."--Alabama Writers' Forum on ADAM & EVE

"Naslund's insight and craftsmanship ...capture the complexities and cultural nuances of the times."--San Diego Union-Tribune

"["Adam & Eve"] transcends the boundaries of the genres it flirts with. In the hands of a lesser storyteller, it might degrade into a flimsy pastiche, but Sena Jeter Naslund's lyrical, exact prose kept me engaged."--Bookreporter.com

From the Back Cover:

What happened to Eden?

The New York Times bestselling author of Ahab's Wife, Four Spirits, and Abundance returns with an audacious and provocative novel that envisions a world where science and faith contend for the allegiance of a new Adam & Eve

Her books have been hailed as "exceptional" (People); "enchanting" (Entertainment Weekly); "of great cultural and historical importance" (New York Times Book Review); and "original and affecting" (Los Angeles Times). One of the most imaginative and inspired writers of our time, Sena Jeter Naslund masterfully uses her craft to lay bare the poignant complexity of humanity—the passion and despair, the ignorance and frailty, the genius and resilience that define us. From Victorian London to civil-rights-era Alabama, from nineteenth-century New England to revolutionary Paris, her novels offer profound insight and startling truths about human experience. Now, with Adam & Eve, she delivers her most ambitious and encompassing tale to date.

Hours before his untimely—and highly suspicious—death, world-renowned astrophysicist Thom Bergmann shares his discovery of extraterrestrial life with his wife, Lucy. Feeling that the warring world is not ready to learn of—or accept—proof of life elsewhere in the universe, Thom entrusts Lucy with his computer flash drive, which holds the keys to his secret work.

Devastated by Thom's death, Lucy keeps the secret, but Thom's friend, anthropologist Pierre Saad, contacts Lucy with an unusual and dangerous request about another sensitive matter. Pierre needs Lucy to help him smuggle a newly discovered artifact out of Egypt: an ancient codex concerning the human authorship of the Book of Genesis. Offering a reinterpretation of the creation story, the document is sure to threaten the foundation of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions . . . and there are those who will stop at nothing to suppress it.

Midway through the daring journey, Lucy's small plane goes down on a slip of verdant land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. Burned in the crash landing, she is rescued by Adam, a delusional American soldier whose search for both spiritual and carnal knowledge has led to madness. Blessed with youth, beauty, and an unsettling innocence, Adam gently tends to Lucy's wounds, and in this quiet, solitary paradise, a bond between the unlikely pair grows. Ultimately, Lucy and Adam forsake their half-mythical Eden and make their way back toward civilization, where members of an ultraconservative religious cult are determined to deprive the world of the knowledge Lucy carries.

Set against the searing debate between evolutionists and creationists, Adam & Eve expands the definition of a "sacred book," and suggests that true madness lies in wars and violence fueled by all religious literalism and intolerance. A thriller, a romance, an adventure, and an idyll, Adam & Eve is a tour de force by a master contemporary storyteller.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061579270
• ISBN 13: 9780061579271
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 339