New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Tosca Lee shares the “passionate and riveting story of the Bible’s first woman and her remarkable journey after being cast from paradise” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Created, not born. Her name is Eve. Myth and legend shroud her in mystery. Now hear her story. She knew this earth when it was perfect–as she was perfect, a creature … perfect–as she was perfect, a creature without flaw. Created by God in a manner like no other, Eve lived in utter peace as the world’s first woman, until she made a choice, one mistake for which all of humanity would suffer. But what did it feel like to be the first person to sin and experience exile; to see innocence crumble so vividly; and to witness a new strange, darker world emerge in its place?
From paradise to exile, from immortality to the death of Adam, experience the epic dawn of mankind through the eyes and heart of Eve–the woman first known as Havah.more
Author, Tosca Lee writes a very insightful and heart-rending story about her view of Eve, God’s created woman companion for Adam. I know the Biblical scriptures are mostly silent about Adam and Eve after their separation from communion with God and the births of the boys, but Tosca Lee has picked up a pen to write the extreme depth of feeling from a soul who was created to love Adam, love God, and be mother to God’s chosen people.
I loved this book! I have thought about different passages of the book many times. The story left me feeling very sad, but full of wonder.
Great Writing, Tosca!!
It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a book as much as the one I just finished reading.
Havah: The story of Eve by Tosca Lee. I’m not even sure where to begin. Here—I loved it. I devoured it. From the moment I cracked the spine and started to read, I was compelled to finish. Not many books command me to read them, tell me to stop working, stay up late, and sacrifice my entire Saturday so that I might spend a few more moments seated before the hearth of someone else’s tale.
Havah required that I hear her story.
The book never felt like a piece of fiction to me. It was as if, finally, the veil had been lifted and I could hear the beginning verses of Genesis told in Eve’s voice. As if we crouched together before a flickering fire, the night wind at our backs, and like a beloved friend, she told me all of her secrets.
Tosca has created a masterpiece in Havah.
Chapter one begins with the birth of Havah (Eve) in the Garden. With a poetic voice, Tosca tells the tale of the first woman, her relationship with “the adam” and her desire to know the One that Is. Havah frolics in a perfect world, where the river sounds like music and the air is stained with the fragrance of pomegranate and plum. Her dearest friends are a lioness, Levia, and a fallow deer, Adah, and it is through these relationships that we later see the bitter contrast between life in the Garden and life after the Fall.
Because, of course, Havah has yet one more friend–a serpent. More beautiful than any of the other animals, it dwells on an island, always near a tree that bears forbidden fruit.
If you think this is a story you’ve heard before, you’re wrong. No one has ever told this tale with such lush detail. As much as I have contemplated Eve and her life in the Garden—and I have—I never saw it this way. Havah is both heartbreaking and stunningly beautiful.
Tosca’s voice, so unique and fluid in rhythm, reminds me at times of Sue Monk Kidd or Janet Fitch. But the spiritual quality of this book elevates it to another plateau.
This is exactly the type of story, book, and author that I have been waiting to see emerge in CBA. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to get lost in another world, anyone who would like to experience the Book of Genesis in a fresh way, or anyone looking for a story that is beautiful and compelling from beginning to end.
This was the first book I read from Tosca years ago. I was so impressed! Eve became a real and relatable person through this book and I identified so much with her. I recommended the book to every woman I talked to at the time. It is still on my all time top 10 recommended books of all time and that’s huge because I’ve read thousands of books in my life! It’s a page turner, it’s real, it’s raw, and the characters come to life.
This was a very interesting read–imagining how Eve existed before and after the fall. While not her best book, I enjoyed it far more than most books out there. And I am sure I will read it again in the future.
If you ever wondered what it was like for Eve before and after the apple event, this is your book. It begins when she first opens her eyes and ends when she closes them for the last time, about a thousand years later.
Lee does a great job at portraying innocence living in paradise. Even the words used to tell the story are beautiful. Poetry in prose format. Everything is in harmony with the two humans, wolves and bears are their companions, communicating without speaking, even plants are friendlier than we know them to be, and you can run barefoot at top speed without hurting your feet.
The interesting thing about this story is that Eve’s reactions and her interpretations of events are a little different than you may have thought they would be from what you were taught in Sunday school. For example, when God promised that Adam and Eve’s seed would crush the head of the serpent, Eve understood that to mean her first son would vanquish the serpent and let them back into the garden, where everything would be the same as it was before. That belief had a profound effect on her relationship with Adam and with Kayin, her first son.
Havah is not only very enjoyable, but it will make you think.
This is the 1st of Tosca Lee’s books I read. She is an amazing author. I was there. I loved the characters. One of my top 5 reads!
Wow, what a ride. First what a story telling! Can YOU imagine having everything then because you disobeyed having to start from scratch? Loosing everything you know but more important the relationship that MOST sustains your soul? Like going from color to black and white. This story is so well written you feel, smell, see the words on the pages like a mini series. It brings “The FALL” into clear concise perspective. In tangible ways that open ones eyes to ALL the ramifications of the place and time. It is a SAD book about triumph as well. You will be thinking of many things LONG after finishing this book. And if you were not thankful for what you do have before reading this- YOU WILL BE. Not because things are important. because GOD and people are what mater.