I absolutely fell in love with this book. It has been a long time since I finished a book and wanted to immediately start reading it again. The Red Tent follows the life of Dinah from the Old Testament. From her mother’s lives through her own childhood and to the end of her days. I LOVED the writing, I LOVED the characters, and I LOVED the relationships between the women. I will say I viewed this book, and am writing this review, based on the merits of the book alone and not on it’s biblical accuracy or inaccuracy. The story is deep and resonant, filled with passion, memory, and heartache. I thought often of how much I want my daughter to grow up knowing the power and beauty of being a woman. Every day women suffer injustice but I would never choose to be anything else.

I think the author masterfully showed the passing of love and personal history from mother to daughter. Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah, “Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges. 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. I wish all the characters that were so alive and loved in the beginning of the book were followed through to the end. I know Dinah’s story moved away from them, but I was sad to hear of their fates from such a distance. I will remember this book for a long time to come. There were a few sexual scenes and some people may not agree with Anita Diamant’s interpretation of the biblical text.