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Lilith

In the Garden of Eden, at the beginning of time, an outrageous lie is born: that women are inferior…

Lilith and Adam are equal and happy in the Garden of Eden. But when Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will and lie beneath him, she refuses – and is banished forever from Paradise.

Demonised and sidelined, Lilith watches in fury as God creates Eve, the woman who accepts her submission. But Lilith has a secret: she has already tasted the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Endowed with Wisdom, she knows why Asherah – God’s wife and equal, the Queen of Heaven – is missing. Lilith has a plan: she will rescue Eve, find Asherah, restore balance to the world and regain her rightful place in Paradise. 

In this feminist retelling of an ancient Hebrew myth, Lilith will have her revenge – however long it takes.

Marmery brilliantly recasts classic Bible stories, giving Lilith the goal of restoring women to a place of power. This feminist reimagining of the Bible will grip readers.

Publishers Weekly review

Dynamite. I laughed loud, fumed louder. Nikki Marmery takes you upriver to the wellspring of sexism but sends you floating back down on a little tide of hope. A shrewd, funny, passionate and important book.

Meg Clothier, author of The Book of Eve

This novel is illuminating, fascinating and important - a fierce and valuable addition to feminist myth-retellings that feels utterly original and much-needed.

Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times best-selling author of Ariadne

Prepare your feathers for a ruffling. Lilith makes The Red Tent seem tame. A ferocious, heterodox mythic novel that upends notions of divinity, femininity versus masculinity, and human beings’ responsibility toward one another and the earth.

Foreword Review

Rich in sumptuous detail, Lilith is a story of betrayal, defiance, passion and love. A wonderfully subversive novel, at once witty and furious, that reclaims female divinity in all its creative and powerful glory.

Joanne Burn, author of The Hemlock Cure

I absolutely adored this novel - the rage, wisdom and humour. Through Lilith, Marmery shows us the enormous consequences for women, humanity and the earth of the suppression of all female divinity. We witness the establishment of a solo guy god, the original toxic male. Yes, this is a book alight with rage, it is also full of hilarity, lust and sumptuous writing. In an inspiring retrieval of powerful women who have been either reduced, caricatured or demonised by biblical history, Marmery takes a deliciously subversive approach to the stories of Noah, Mary Magdalene, Jezebel. Electric and empowering, Lilith is an immersive novel exploding with sensory detail, written from the whole of the heart, chockful of lust and adventure, exposing the outrageous and absurd logic of male supremacy - for thousands of years preached as natural and enshrined in laws. Here we witness the theft of goddess that Lilith resurrects for our generation - she gives us back our stories.

Niamh Boyce, author of Her Kind

I learned so much from this joyous rampage through Biblical history, lamenting everything which Lilith shows we lost and marvelling at all that still could be.

Alice Albinia, author of Cwen

At long last we have the origin story women deserve. Furious and beautiful, rich and moving, Lilith is an astonishing achievement. A new heroine with an unforgettable tale to anger and heal

Miranda Malins, author of The Puritan Princess

Lilith is a battle cry of a book. A rich, vividly written story of passion, betrayal and female rage, Nikki Marmery conjures a searing yet hopeful tale about the power and necessity of women's knowledge, told through the fresh, fierce voice of the true first woman. Lilith is a captivating heroine, full of wit, fury and strength. I loved getting to know her.

Sophie Keetch, author of Morgan is My Name

In a poetic voice, at once ancient and modern, Nikki Marmery’s Lilith conjures a feminist counter-narrative, an ecological manifesto to forgo domination; to love this world as a gift and each other as equals.

Kathleen B. Jones, author of Cities of Women

A sumptuous feast and furious tornado of a novel. This reimagining of the Lilith myth is joyous, life-affirming, funny and moving, but is also a sustained cry of rage against patriarchal injus􀀂ce. Audacious and breath-taking in scope, it spans 6,000 years – taking us to paradise and hell, but lingering with love on the beauty of the earth and the long-suffering power of women.

Maggie Brookes, author of Acts of Love and War

Fans of Madeline Miller and Jenny Saint will love this evocative feminist retelling, which I found both deeply moving and fascinating. Lilith is a great protagonist in the mould of Circe, and the writing is rooted in deep knowledge and love of the theologies and myths behind the Bible and apocryphal texts.

Rosie Andrews, best-selling author of The Leviathan

We all know the story of Adam and Eve—but what about Lilith? Nikki Marmery's exquisite prose brings this compelling, highly relevant tale of Adam's first wife to life.

Laura Shepperson, Sunday Times bestselling author of Phaedra

Lilith is a thrilling ride through herstory: rocky, defiant and magnificent.

Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, author, Dazzling

Lilith by Nikki Marmery is perhaps the most powerful, audacious, hopeful novel I've ever read. Lilith's message is clear, and deeply moving: There is a better world, if we have the courage to believe it.

Louise Morrish, author of Operation Moonlight

Profound, witty, and remarkable, Lilith is a tale as old as time, written for the modern woman. This is the book I've been waiting my whole life for, without even knowing it. Lilith is truly divine

Victoria Hawthorne, author of The House at Helygen

An extraordinary, important book; a riveting and timeless story

Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists

Ambitious and intriguing, Lilith tackles patriarchy while imagining a better world for all.

Elyse John, author of Orphia and Eurydicius

Marmery delivers one of the most gloriously feminist myth-meets-historical-fiction novels I’ve read yet. Her compelling heroine urges us to remake our world in harmony with Nature. To do so, we must acknowledge the innate equality of the sexes and cherish the bounty Nature has given us, instead of relentless degradation and exploitation. Marmery’s gorgeous world-building and the epic scope of Lilith would be worthy of Anne Rice, but her sly wit has me thinking of Joseph Heller’s classic God Knows. I love the clever range of voices she uses to distinguish the personalities of her sweeping cast. Even more satisfying, we finally get to hear the thoughts of the life-giving women the Bible writers neglected to name.

Susan C. Wilson, author of Clytemnestra’s Bind

We've waited 6000 years to hear Lilith's tale, and what a tale it is! Feisty, furious, and startlingly funny, Marmery's heroine is never less than fascinating: Lilith's caustic views on Adam, on drunken oafish Noah, on the pompous angels are sharply witty and deliciously spiky. Every page seethes with Lilith's rage and heartache, and although there are many dark scenes, Marmery also creates a poignant sense of hope by the end. A truly compelling novel, with timeless sensual descriptions conjuring up vibrant images of Eden and Galilee. May it be the first of many feminist Biblical retellings!

Naomi Kelsey, author of The Burnings

Exquisitely written and full of wit and female rage... Nikki Marmery has created a moving and powerfully subversive tale that stays with you long after you read it.

Rani Selvarajah, author of Savage Beasts

As irreverent as it is ambitious, Lilith is a fun and thought-provoking journey through the shadow side of Judeo-Christian mythology. Daring, fresh and playful.

Ann Morgan, author of Crossing Over

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