THE RED TENT by ANITA DIAMANT

This book was a first for me.  Set in Biblical times it somehow lent itself very nicely as a book for modern times. It sounds a bit contradictory but I think the language used was so straight forward and simple that, that added to its appeal.

We have Dinah the daughter of Jacob one daughter in a huge family of only sons. She also has four mothers who are the wives of her father Jacob and who all look on the children as belonging to them all. Dinah is particularly precious to them all. She follows in the footsteps of her aunt who is a renowned midwife and Dinah herself develops this talent so that she becomes the natural follower of her Aunt.

The book is full of such wonderful, descriptive detail of everyday life. Life for women was particularly heavy and harsh. There was work constantly to be done. It was not that easy for the men either but women did have a very hard time. Each person had allotted tasks and heaven help you if you failed in them in any way. There seemed to be no allowance for tiredness or for any frailty of any kind. It was only during a menstrual cycle of three days that women were allowed into "the red tent" to pray and relax and be away from the constant cycle of work.

Dinah's life from following her aunt Rachel to the city as a midwife to her meeting her husband, his subsequent tortured murder and the subsequent way Dinah's life turned is the subject of this story. Beautifully told, not boring at all despite the historical overtones throughout the book, this was an amazing discovery of the life of women in Biblical times.

On a personal note, Shivanthi our daughter has come from Melbourne and it is a permanent round of florists, and favours, beauty salons, pedicures and facials and all sorts of stuff which take the whole day. My son was expected tonight but the flight has been delayed for seven hours in Melbourne and I don't know when to expect him now. He has to take connections from Kuala Lumpur to get here and now we do not know when he will get here.