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    Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah's Wife
    Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah's Wife
    Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah's Wife
    Audiobook8 hours

    Sinners and the Sea: The Untold Story of Noah's Wife

    Written by Rebecca Kanner

    Narrated by Amy Rubinate

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    While the fate of the world rested on Noah's shoulders, the survival of the human race rested on hers. The young heroine in Sinners and the Sea is destined for greatness. Known only as "wife" in the Bible and cursed with a birthmark that many think is the brand of a demon, this unnamed woman - fated to become the mother of all generations after the great flood - lives anew through Rebecca Kanner. The author gives this virtuous woman the perfect voice to make one of the Old Testament's stories come alive like never before. Desperate to keep her safe, the woman's father gives her to the righteous Noah, who weds her and takes her to the town of Sorum, a haven for outcasts. Alone in her new life, Noah's wife gives him three sons. But living in this wicked and perverse town with an aloof husband who speaks more to God than to her takes its toll. Noah's wife struggles to know her own identity and value. She tries to make friends with the violent and dissolute people of Sorum while raising a brood that, despite its pious upbringing, develops some sinful tendencies of its own. While Noah carries out the Lord's commands, she tries to hide her mark and her shame as she weathers the scorn and taunts of the townspeople. But these trials are nothing compared to what awaits her after God tells her husband that a flood is coming - and that Noah and his family must build an ark so that they alone can repopulate the world. As the floodwaters draw near, she grows in courage and honor; when the water finally recedes, she emerges whole, displaying once and for all the indomitable strength of women. Drawing on the biblical narrative and Jewish mythology, Sinners and the Sea is a beautiful account of the antediluvian world told in cinematic detail.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOasis Audio
    Release dateApr 2, 2013
    ISBN9781621882244
    Author

    Rebecca Kanner

    Rebecca Kanner’s writing has won an Associated Writing Programs Award and a Loft Mentorship Award. Her stories have been published in numerous journals, including The Kenyon Review and The Cincinnati Review. She is a freelance writer and teaches writing at The Loft in Minneapolis.

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    Reviews for Sinners and the Sea

    3.5/5

    70 ratings10 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Very dark book! It makes Noah and his sons out to be riddled with hate, sexual perversion and blood lust. This would be less offensive if it were not in the Christian Fiction section. An ark, a man named Noah, a flood and a sprinkle of bible verses does not make this a Christian book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I think it’s a good read, but please don’t read this as biblical study!!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I am a big fan of Biblical fiction. There are so many fascinating tales to be further fleshed out from the stories in the Bible. In Sinners and the Sea Noah's story is told but from the perspective of his wife, a woman who remains unnamed. How sad is that - to go down in history without a name?She was born with a "mark" what I guess we would call a port wine stain now. But in times less informed any difference from what was normal was considered the mark of the devil. Abandoned by her mother and sheltered by her father she grows up in fear. Afraid she will never know the love of a husband or the joys of motherhood. The surrounding villagers want to kill her and her father soon finds a solution - 900 year old Noah is looking for a virtuous wife. He will come and take her away. Our nameless woman soon becomes a wife and not long after a mother. But it is not all as she had hoped since Noah talks mostly to the God of Adam and not to her. She has only one woman who will talk to her and she is a whore of whom Noah does not approve. Her life is hard but it is only going to get worse because Noah tells her they must start building an ark as the world will soon be destroyed.Most of us know the story of Noah and the ark but I really had no knowledge of his wife or sons. Obviously this is a work of fiction and there is artistic license taken but it is a compelling story with the fantastical and magical elements one would expect in a Biblical tale. At the same time it humanizes Noah and not always in a good way - he comes off a bit of a nut case if you ask me. His sons don't come off looking like saints either - they are selfish children. In fact most of the other characters in the book come off as most unpleasant. The exceptions being our heroine's father, the whore Javan, and Javan's simple minded daughter, Herai. This was a fascinating book and one I finished in one sitting. I actually pulled the Bible off the shelf and read the passages pertaining to Noah after I finished the book. It was interesting to read the spare writing of the Bible after the fleshed out fiction of Sinners and the Sea. This book really packed an emotional punch while trying to tell a nameless woman's story. The Bible stints in its treatment of women so it needs be left to historical fiction authors to bring them to life. Ms. Kanner did that most vividly in her debut work.
    • 4/5
      The Bible only refers to Noah?s wife as ?wife,? but who is this nameless woman? Her community believes her birthmark was the mark of a demon. After a magician who tried to remove her mark is found dead, her father quickly marries her to Noah to protect her from the angry and fearful community. While her birthmark was the greatest challenge of her young life, now living in Sorum, her community is made up of prostitutes, murders, and sinners; and the flood is still to come. This inspirational novelization of the life of Noah?s wife demonstrates the courage and trials of a Biblical woman.
    • 4/5
      Fabulous story.To oversimplify, it is a tale told through the eyes of Noah's unnamed wife. She tells of her childhood when she was shunned as a'demon', so called due to a port wine stain on her forehead. She tells of the sacrifice her father made raising and caring for 'a demon child' as a single parent, and finally her life as a wife, woman and mother.An unvarnished look at herself and others. Life in a sinful town, living with sinful individuals. The characters in this story seem real. Noah himself can only be described as angry and fanatical in his dealings with others for God. He would never admit it, but he feels superior to others because he is the one chosen to show others the way of God. Noah and wife's children are very different individuals, as brothers are, with unique personalities. I can't say I truly 'liked' any of the boys. The townsfolk are far more interesting. They are a sinful lot who kill, pillage and destroy, however, some of them are more fascinating than Noah and his family.When they finally get around to building the ark, the town residents constantly jeer and call them crazy. They constantly attempt to stop Noah from building. My favorite part of this novel is the character development we see of Noah's wife. She who has no name grows as an individual, she strengthens and, in my opinion, has more moral fiber than Noah. We see the sins of everyone, even herself, through her eyes.The book is slow moving, but definitely worth the wait. It must have been somewhat difficult to write, having very little information about Noah's wife from Biblical writings.I must admit, I love the cover. Beautiful picture. Does she finally get a name? Just read and find out.
    • 4/5
      This is my first book that I have read by this author. When I had the chance to review this book, I jumped at the opportunity as I was curious to read the "untold" story of Noah's wife. Everyone who is familiar with the Bible knows who Noah is and if they were not thanks to the new movie featuring Russell Crowe as Noah, they soon will be familiar with Noah. Although, I myself would rather stick with reading the Bible to learn the true story of Noah. Not that I have seen the movie. Well anyways, this book gives Noah's wife her own voice and chance to be in the spotlight. This book is spilt into 2 books or sections. This first section focuses on who Noah's wife is, where she came from, and how she came to be Noah's wife. The second section is when the big storm arrives and when the story for me really picked up and got interesting. The author really did tell this story in cinematic details as if ripped from the pages of the Bible.
    • 5/5
      What a masterpiece by Kanner! Biblical fiction is always a dicey subject, but I thought she handled it with aplomb. Noah's wife, who doesn't receive a name until the end of the novel, is a sympathetic, relateable, and ultimately inspirational woman, the force behind the man of the Ark. The descriptions of the sinners and of the flood are unforgettable. I borrowed this from the library but I am seriously considering purchasing it for my Kindle so I can read it whenever I want. Great reading!
    • 5/5
      While some may describe this book as the story of Noah's ark from the perspective of his unnamed wife, using such a simple description would do Kanner's masterful tale a gross injustice. The story of Noah's ark is really only the background from which Kanner explores a number of weighty issues including faith, pride, jealousy, self/communal identity, and so many others with confidence and ease--often with profound and haunting results. The characters of the novel are a true pleasure. While Noah may be a man called of God, he is flawed in a way that leaves you wondering if he shouldn't consider himself just another one of the sinners that needs saving. Noah's sons each have distinct personalities that meld, clash, and explode just as any set of brothers' personalities do. And our narrator, Noah's unnamed wife, is a woman whose gradual transformation is one that is painstaking, inspiring, and--most importantly--earned. But the story does not simply involve Noah's immediate family, there are many other characters that flesh out this story to a magnitude beyond anything I ever expected from the story of Noah's ark.With The Sinners and the Sea, Kanner does what many writers of "reimaginings" fail to do--she sees through the well-known story, the cliches, the obvious choices. She bravely pushes past everything we know and everything we thought we knew. She welcomes us into a world we could have never imagined while leaving us thinking "Yes. Yes. This is how it should be. This is what I have been waiting for."
    • 3/5
      Arc received through NetGalley.

      This is a story about Noah and the arc tolled by his wife.

      I thought that the beginning was kind of slow and not so interesting, but the further into the book I got the more interesting it got. I am not knowledged about the stories of the Bible and especially not about Noah, so it was interesting to read it through a fictional book, to have the characters fleshed out as real humans. I found Noah to be a stubborn, selfish old man that cared more for righteousness and his God than his mortal life. I did not like him, but he felt very human so I felt for him. The wife, I had a hard time deciding if I liked her or not. I still don't know. On the other hand she seemed meek and not able to stand up for herself, which you can't blame her for due to her background and her crazy husband, but she also did the best that she could in her situation and the time of superstition and hardship of women. She too came across as very human so I felt for her, being stuck with Noah. I often found myself sympathizing with the town and the fallen against Noah.

      The story became more interesting once the three sons had been born. It gave more to tell about. I liked the sons best of all the characters, everyone of them with their flaws and strength. The most interesting in the whole story for me was not Noah and the arc itself, but all of the relationships; the relationships between the sons, the sons and their parents, as well as the wife's relationship with Javan and her daughter. The story for me isn't biblical, but tells a story about a family, that has it ups and downs like every other family. Javan did fascinate me a strong woman, and it had been interesting to know more about her. Zilpha was also a fascinating character.

      Aside that the story didn't grab me right from the start the dialogue bothered me a bit. It was typical rigid in the way when you try to mimic "how they spoke in the past". But the narration as a whole was solid and true to the character and good.

      I don't know if I will buy or read the book again, but I liked it and I think those that are interested in Christian mythology will also.
    • 5/5
      I am a big fan of Biblical fiction. There are so many fascinating tales to be further fleshed out from the stories in the Bible. In Sinners and the Sea Noah's story is told but from the perspective of his wife, a woman who remains unnamed. How sad is that - to go down in history without a name?She was born with a "mark" what I guess we would call a port wine stain now. But in times less informed any difference from what was normal was considered the mark of the devil. Abandoned by her mother and sheltered by her father she grows up in fear. Afraid she will never know the love of a husband or the joys of motherhood. The surrounding villagers want to kill her and her father soon finds a solution - 900 year old Noah is looking for a virtuous wife. He will come and take her away. Our nameless woman soon becomes a wife and not long after a mother. But it is not all as she had hoped since Noah talks mostly to the God of Adam and not to her. She has only one woman who will talk to her and she is a whore of whom Noah does not approve. Her life is hard but it is only going to get worse because Noah tells her they must start building an ark as the world will soon be destroyed.Most of us know the story of Noah and the ark but I really had no knowledge of his wife or sons. Obviously this is a work of fiction and there is artistic license taken but it is a compelling story with the fantastical and magical elements one would expect in a Biblical tale. At the same time it humanizes Noah and not always in a good way - he comes off a bit of a nut case if you ask me. His sons don't come off looking like saints either - they are selfish children. In fact most of the other characters in the book come off as most unpleasant. The exceptions being our heroine's father, the whore Javan, and Javan's simple minded daughter, Herai. This was a fascinating book and one I finished in one sitting. I actually pulled the Bible off the shelf and read the passages pertaining to Noah after I finished the book. It was interesting to read the spare writing of the Bible after the fleshed out fiction of Sinners and the Sea. This book really packed an emotional punch while trying to tell a nameless woman's story. The Bible stints in its treatment of women so it needs be left to historical fiction authors to bring them to life. Ms. Kanner did that most vividly in her debut work.