The Red Tent Review

Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, a captivating novel surrounding the lives of the women in the patriarchal bible, shows the other side of all of the traditional stories of Christianity. The story revolves around the red tent, where women would go every month to bleed, give birth, and nurse. As such an essential part of life yet clearly not mentioned in the bible, the novel sheds light on the unappreciated life-giving work women were doing at the time.

Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, is the narrator, recounting her childhood days with Jacob’s wives, her mothers, in the red tent. The novel begins when Jacob takes interest in Rachel, one of the four daughters of Laban. Scared of her wedding night, Rachel convinces her sister Leah to marry him in disguise, who consequently becomes pregnant and has Jacob’s first son, and many others after him until she has Dinah. The first book tells the sisters’ stories of their lives and marriage, while in the second Dinah describes her life in the succeeding generation. In a culture of extreme patriarchy, the women struggle to serve their husbands and provide sons; yet preserve the unprecedented secret of their reproductive health. In the tent, which no men can go near and where all of the women take refuge each month, a sisterhood is formed that creates a culture of their own.

The Red Tent is a fascinating and intimate look at ancient history that is eye opening to read, but is relatively graphic. I would highly recommend this book to people in high school or older, but maybe not younger, depending on the reader’s maturity level.