‘This book’s power to rivet the reader approaches the miraculous . . . quirky, delectable, daring.’ Janet Maslin, New York Times
‘A very sophisticated kind of soap opera . . . As he works his way back from experience to innocence, [Maine’s] tone shifts from darkness to light, ending with Eve’s irresistible, knowing humour and lovely paradisiacal reveries . . . Again and again throughout this novel, Maine’s talent is revealed . . . In his hands, Cain becomes a tortured hero, the character who is remembered long after the bland and blameless Abel is forgotten.’ Elena Seymenliyska, Guardian
‘Maine’s prose is as simple and economical as the life it’s depicting, but it doesn’t skimp when elaborating the basic passions felt by its players, as they learn what it is to be human.’
Dave Pollock, Independent
‘With a modern novelist’s art, acuity and insistence on psychological realism, Maine . . . had me believing in the truth of these most archetypal of characters and the situation they found themselves in . . . Having appropriated such an old story it’s a marvel that Maine can make it feel so fresh.’ Independent on Sunday
‘With charm and wry wit, [Maine] merely tickles the idea that God is perhaps, well . . . a bit of a bastard.****’
Alex Barlow, Time Out
‘Maine has exchanged the compact narrative of the Old Testament for the modern novel, supplying the psychological motives, theological questioning and explanatory incidents absent from his bibliographical sources.’ Matthew Creasy, Financial Times
Also by David Maine
The Flood
The Book of Samson
fallen David Maine
CANONGATE
Edinburgh • New York • Melbourne
First published in Great Britain in 2006 by
Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street,
Edinburgh EH1 1TE
First published in America by St Martin’s Press, New York, 2005
This edition first published by Canongate Books Ltd in 2007
This digital edition first published in 2013 by Canongate Books.
Copyright © David Maine, 2005
The moral right of the author has been asserted
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library
ISBN 9781782112273
for my family
Contents
| 40. | The Old Man |
| 39. | The Brother |
| 38. | The Son |
| 37. | Thirty Years Previous |
| 36. | The Mistake |
| 35. | The Proposal |
| 34. | The Strangers |
| 33. | The Years Previous |
| 32. | The Conversation |
| 31. | The Murder |
| 30. | The Murder |
| 29. | The Girl |
| 28. | Some Weeks Previous |
| 27. | The Old Man |
| 26. | The Stranger |
| 25. | The Conversations |
| 24. | The Previous Two Years |
| 23. | The Judgment |
| 22. | The Offering |
| 21. | The Proposal |
| 20. | The Proposal |
| 19. | The Previous Winter |
| 18. | The Mistake |
| 17. | The Abomination |
| 16. | The Conversation |
| 15. | Two Summers Previous |
|
|