Seven Days to the Sea

by Rebecca Kohn

In the bestselling tradition of The Red Tent comes an epic retelling of the Exodus, narrated by Miryam, the sister of Moses, and by his lover, Tzipporah. These two women weave an intricate and unforgettable tale of love, envy and selflessness, all of it revolving around one exceptional man. But could Moses have become the inspirational leader he was without these extraordinary women at his side? Rebecca Kohn takes one of the best-loved stories from the Bible and brings it startlingly to life, from Moses’ humble beginnings as the baby in the rushes to his parting of the Red Sea and establishment of the Ten Commandments. Miryam and Tzipporah tell a story of sisterhood, rivalry and devotion – of great passion and unbearable sadness in the face of the ultimate sacrifice. This is a novel to make you laugh and cry, to uplift and entrance you from first page to last.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Biblical Fiction, Biblical, Jewish, Christian Fiction, Historical

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Deborah Pickstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

An interesting reinterpretation of the story of Moses through the lens of his sister and wife. Miryam did not come across as likeable because, in my view, she lacked the ability to self-examine and thus felt herself righteous and was rigid rather than kind. Right at the end, she finally opens her eyes after being smited by Yahveh for claiming to be his mouthpiece. Truly, the God of the Jews was a jealous God and not very kind; if He made humanity I have never understood why He then punishes groups and individuals for being human. But that's a philosophical debate and not this book! Which is an excellently well-written story.

[Nathan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of us know the story of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. Most of us also have opinions about how close the biblical account may or may not be to what actually happened. In this novel, Kohn follows the biblical narrative through the eyes of Moses' sister Miriam and his wife Zipporah, both of whom appear briefly in Exodus, but then apparently vanish from the biblical narrative. For all that the Bible gives women a lot more prominence than a great many other historical texts written both before and since, this represents an interesting storytelling opportunity. Moreover, the Bible's often-compressed account provides even more opportunity for filling in the blanks. Kohn handles both beautifully, capturing ancient worldviews about religion, the unsettling nature of the cult of Ashera, the fickleness of the Israelites, and God's absolutism as portrayed in Exodus in particular and the Old Testament in general, all while getting at the underpinnings of just why a God purportedly loving enough to bother with the whole jesus-on-the-Cross thing could also have been so "smitey," as it were. At the book's end, the author provides some comments on her sources and research, as well as a series of questions and ponderables for those using this book as part of a readers' group. Readers should probably re-read the relevant chapters of Exodus before diving into this novel.
It might have been a 4-star read for me, but I gave a 5th partly because of the work the author put into it and partly because it made me thing, even if parts of it also made me twitch.

[Shelly Kastler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Biblical historical fiction...and I am fine with an author taking fictional liberties- but this read as a romance novel. I read this in about 4 days since the language was so simple and had no depth. Sorry everyone who loved this...too much “heart aflutter” at best and lurid stuff (pagan sex scenes: ew) at worst. Add a dash of women who can’t get along and when disrespected either stomp their feet or stay silent. 🙄Depictions of the amazing and strong women of the Bible are best left to those who can do it better. The jacket comparing this to The Red Tent is not OK, and this certainly was not “epic”. And the ending seemed like she meant to have a volume 2 as she stopped mid-desert but then fast forwarded. ??? Read Paul, A Novel by Walter Wangerin instead!

[Lois Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a style of similar to The Red Tent, Seven Days to the Sea fills in the blanks and the spaces between the lines of the lives, interactions, and decisions of the people in the biblical story of the Exodus from the perspective of Moses' sister, Miriam, and the other women in his life. With believable scenarios and dialogue, we experience one version of the human backstory of one of the best known and most loved stories in the Bible. The book makes the characters in the Exodus story more real, and more human, without distracting from the impact of the original biblical verson. It's an easy read, and a book I was always anxious to get back to.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why bother writing a biblical story if you're not going to write it accurately? I gave it an extra star (notice my one)only because if I get past the fact that I have biblical knowledge it's not a bad book. The liberties the author took are cringe worthy and falls close to blasphemy.

[Lisa Moschkau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the view of the women. Love that Moses wife had a love for the goddess.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. More surprising since by almost every equation, I should have been at best mildly entertained. Instead, I actively liked.

This book tells the story of Miriam and Zipporah, who before this book I would have said "I'm pretty sure those names are biblical" but I wouldn't be sure who they were. I would have guessed Old Testament because a) I've read the Bible and b) every woman in the New Testament is named Mary.

Miriam is the sister of Moses, Zipporah is Moses' wife. Although, there's limited info given in the bible, Kohn extrapolates a lot and...let's just admit it...makes stuff up. The good news is the stuff she makes up is pretty dang entertaining. Miriam is a flawed prophet, dealing with her own need for control. Zipporah has been hurt and damaged by events, leading her to doubt her worth. On and the culture clash.

The story flips back and forth between the two narrators, yet I wasn't horribly annoyed by that, if for no other reason than they didn't change fonts...I hate when they change fongs. Thought the woe is me from both of them got seriously old at time, I didn't get too annoyed. A fun read that I will try to find more like it.

[Merredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a historical fiction book about the book of Exodus in the bible, spanning from right before Moses's birth, to right before they had to wander the extra 40 years in the wilderness. It was told from the point of view of Moses's sister and wife, switching back and forth. His sister, Miryam is the most annoying, uptight, bitter character ever. I spent the whole book just hating her. I was also not happy at all with their God. Tzipporah seemed to be able to tell all of the bad things that would be happening in this god's name over time, which is true. It was an interesting retelling and made me definitely want to go out and re-read Exodus, which I'm going to do soon. I had forgotten how violently immediate god was in those days, very hands on, paying attention to every little thing about these few people. Reminded me of a tv show episode I saw like that when they were in an alternate reality, maybe it was Futurama, I can't remember. Overall, a good book, I just wish she could have made Miryam have SOMETHING likeable about her. something.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the Exodus, a bible story that I know, but not in great detail. I was frustrated with the characters in this book.

I really didn't like Moses much after reading it. The way he treated his wife was awful. I know he was on a mission from God, but he never should have taken a wife if he was just going to toss her aside. He knew for a long time that he was called to serve God. And while he had a specific job to do, he should have still found a way to honor his wife.

And Miriam made me made because she was very self-centered. And Zipporah just kept putting up with the poor treatment from both Miriam and Moses.

I've read two other bibilical fiction novels. I found "The Red Tent" and "The Gilded Chamber" much easier to read. They weren't cakewalks, but I was at least able to identify with and admire the strong female characters.

The women in this book were strong, but I didn't respect them much.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book right from the start. The book starts with the sister of Moses and his life with her and the family. Then flips to the life of the women who will eventully become his wife. It follow the life of Moses from the eyes of these two great women who are both different but help Moses on his quest to free the people and deliver God's word. The book flips between the two women, and it give a great view of the life at that time in two different views and keeps you wanted to find out what will happen next. Even when I really did know how it ends because I had read that chapter in the bible and I did see the movie "The Ten Commandments". I still didn't want it to end.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

c2006: FWFTB: Moses, Exodus, sister, lover, devotion. It was a brave decision of the publishers to subtitle this as an 'epic' novel of the Exodus. My definition of epic is 'heroic or grand in scale or character' and I don't think that this book quite made it in either measure. It was a good quick read and the author put an interesting slant onto the known tales from the Old Testament but there were some events where the plotting/descriptions didn't make too much sense to me - and here I am thinking in particular of the circumcision episode. "I did nor know whether to be happy that I would be in His presence or sad that I received no special distinction."

[Joy Matteson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love good historical biblical fiction. I don't just say 'biblical' fiction, because that does not qualify it as historical to some authors. This is historical biblical fiction at its finest--Ms. Kohn has obviously done some wonderful research on the Ancient Near East to supplement the Biblical account of the Exodus. The book's POV come from both Tzipporah, Moses' wife, and Miryam, Moses' sister, who are antagonists for most of the book, but tell a tale of harrowing survival and hope at the birth of a nation. Fascinating stuff.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great historical fiction novel about the Exodus. I have not read many books about the Exodus let alone one from the perspective of a woman. Miryam and Tzipporah are amazing and strong female characters to read about. Both serve as strong foils for each other one representing structure and order and the other freedom and chaos. Both see Moses differently and think they each know what he needs. I really enjoyed Kohn's twist on the plagues of Egypt and the journey to the promised land. A great read overall!

[Erika Feller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me that people called upon to do extraordinary things are still just people and apt to be just as petty, self-involved, hurtful but also able to get over it. The book tells the story of the exodus from the points of view of Miriam and Zipporah, each chapter is told in the voice of one or the other - a style I really like.

Not as good as The Red Tent, but still really pretty good.

[Shalon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm currently in a 32 week study of the Life of Moses and it was nice to get my imagination flowing as to how the bible characters actually lived out the enslavement, the Exodus, the wandering in the wilderness, etc. Putting a very human spin to the history we know about Moses is exciting. However, I must say this book took A LOT of liberties in what may have gone on during Moses' time and it is FICTIONAL in a lot of areas. Don't take it as biblical.

[Wen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about as the title states the biblical tale of the Exedus. It focuses on the two main ladies in Mosess life. Mirian, his sister and Zipporah his wife. It is told in their points of view and shows how while they would have been very different women from differnt backgrounds become vital to helping Moses complete his task of leading the Jews out of Egypt. Very well done.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally I enjoy fictional retellings of Biblical narratives, but for some reason I just didn't love this one. I kept reading, anxious to see how the characters changed in the end, but for the most part they stayed stuck in their paths. Of course lots of liberty was taken with the Biblical Exodus account, but in this case those liberties felt contrived rather than plausible.

[Golda P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly love Rebecca Kohn's books. They're so well researched and well written. Her vision of Tzipporah as an Asherah follower who can't envision only abiding by a masculine and fearsome god is just pure genius.

[Christa Wright-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know that it is historical fiction but I did learn a lot more about the journey of Moses and his people than I did from the bible.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting conflict and portrayal of the two women in Moses' life.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I consider it a must-read along with The Red Tent.

[Artsmanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible, use of facts from bible are great and she puts women from the bible ina refreshing new light!

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the history, the discriptions and the narrative of this book. Very similar to The Red Tent.