An enjoyable read about the wife of Isaac, son of Abraham.

Really interesting to delve into the possible reasons for the way certain things happened in this family.

This was my favorite of the Women of Genesis book. I really enjoyed his look at Issac and his relationship with Abraham.

Enjoyed!

Orson Scott Card does a great job with Rebekah's story, though he ends on what is probably an overly optimistic note.

Loved all three in this trilogy! They were great fiction with the stories connecting to what I have also read in the Bible. I love the way he tells the story of these “normal” women. He makes them real and tells their story in detail with their thoughts on matters and how things ended up playing out for them!

Rebekah, wife of Isaac and mother of Esau and Jacob. This definitely goes far beyond the Biblical text and portrays Rebekah in ways that may or may not be accurate. I loved her strength, her faith, her courage and her determination. I imagine that Rebekah possessed those characteristics whether or not this was an accurate portrayal of her life and personality.

I thought his portrayal of Isaac was SO insightful and unique. This is my favorite thus far of the Women of Genesis series.

Rebekah and Lavan grow up without a mother.Their father, Bethuel, is now deaf. Lavan and Rebekah use letters to write to their father .
Esbaal wants to marry Rebekah,who is only 15. But she doesn't like him and rejects the offer. Instead, she suggests that bethuel marries Esbaal's sister Aryas -only to find out at the ceremony that the woman is her own mother (supposed to be dead ) !
Ev en at 15, Rebekah is opinionated and assertive. She is used to be the woman of the house- till Mother returns.She refuses refuses to marry outside the God of Avraham.
Then Eliezer comes for Rebekah and she agrees to go with him and marry Isaac.
She argues with both Abraham and Isaac , sees their relationship with Ishmael and later with Esau and Jacob.
The story is told from Rebekah's point of view. We see as a child-young woman- mother- older woman.
Lovely book.

Excellent book, truly gives you a view of what the culture of the time might have been like. Obviously well researched, as I would have expected from Card. Another triumph for the author.

What I like most about the book is the fact that Rebekah is not treated as a saintly figure, as too many "biographical novels" do to religious figures. She is an ordinary woman caught up in a exceptional period of history. She is shaped by her environment and comes over as a strong but spiritual woman that just wants to live her life with the "God of Abraham".

Fully recommend it to anyone who is interested in biblical historical novels or just wants a good read.

When I stumbled upon Orson Scott Card’s ‘women of the bible’ series, I knew I had to try it just out of curiosity. The idea of a science fiction writer turning his hand to Bible fanfiction (in essence) was too interesting a notion to pass up. Rebekah is second in the series, covering the life of Abraham’s daughter-in-law, and it proved quite the surprise on multiple fronts.

Those familiar with the Book of Genesis may recall that a large part of its post-Flood narrative is a family drama, one that begins with Abraham and continues until his grandchildren have multiplied themselves into a full-born nation. Rebekah is a key part of that narrative, marrying Abraham’s son and bearing her own, one of whom will bear the name Israel. In Rebekah, Card is careful to create Rebekah as a character in her own right, however, with a history and a distinct personality, before having her take her place in the larger story where it would be easy to be overshadowed by the likes of Abraham, or even by her sons’ rivalry. She’s a winsome character: creative, intelligent, diligent, and intensely principled. When her father goes deaf, she enlists her brother Laban’s help in trying to create a written alphabet they can use to communicate with him; their father Beuleh can only chuckle before he teaches them the letters he learned from Abraham, instead. We meet Rebekah not as a woman at the well, an answer to a prayer, but as a young girl raised without a mother, forced by circumstance to become the chief of her father’s camp at an early age when he loses his hearing. A hard worker accustomed to paying attention to what needs to be done and doing it, and a faithful daughter devoted to the God of Abraham, she stands her ground against her father’s enemies, against unworthy suitors. and against her own worst tendencies.

To the Biblical background, Card adds a little bit of historicity and incorporates details from Mormon legends, chiefly the Book of Abraham. I thought the continued references to the “holy writings” were an invention of Card until the mention of ‘cureloms’ made me realize there were connections to Mormon literature. The Mormon influence isn’t overt, beyond depicting one of Abraham’s birthright duties as maintaining the “holy writings’ , and having him to be an astronomer as well. These liberties added some needed detail to a world that would otherwise be terribly generic: only character & place name edits would be needed to turn this into a story set in the American Old West, or the Chinese kingdoms period: there are no historical objects like distinct foodstuffs to give the world flavor and weight. It’s a good thing, then, that Rebekah carries so much weight by herself.

This book was really compelling and posed many fascinating (if not accurate?) views on the motivations of biblical characters.

A major theme of the book was the fact that, as he says it, "people doing the best they can often get it wrong, and all you can do afterwards is try to ameliorate the damage and avoid the same mistakes in the future." Card created many interesting theoretical motives for Rebekah and Isaac to play favorites with their sons, particularly the way that Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his son may have damaged their relationship.

Fear of repeating parents mistakes was a big part of the book and the internal dialogue of Rebekah revealed how easy it is to let personal bias skew our view of reality, even with the purest intentions.

It's definitely historical fiction, but it's good historical fiction, and because I'm such a character person, I really appreciated the way that Card digs into his characters thoughts, emotions, and particularly their motivations.