``Cordelia Frances Biddle’s Listen to Me: The Women of the Bible Speak Out envisions a feminist perspective for well-known narratives. Blending fire and humor, she reveals Eve, Ruth, Bathsheba, Queen Vashti, Delilah, et al, as real people possessing complex and turbulent inner lives.
Using contemporary language, she invites the reader to challenge assumptions and shibboleths while the women gather in pairs and as a group to recount their personal histories. From Babylon to the “dicey and pricy burgs” of Sodom and Gomorrah to 21st Century Manhattan, Eve and her companions’ longing and rage, trauma, hope, outrage and empathy create a sisterhood that is readily transferred to modern society.
A nonbinary God makes an occasional appearance, chastising the men who crafted the tales. Adam, Abel and Cain also attempt to reconcile their created images with the emotional truths of their existences.
Listen to Me is a story of solidarity and strength as the women of the Bible stand together and confront millennia of misogyny. The novel is a vital shout for equality.
