Abraham and Sarah set off to serve a new God in a new land, with an unspeakable family secret in their heart and a marriage in serious trouble. In time, the childless Sarah offers Hagar, her slave, to Abraham. Hagar not only gives him a son, Ishmael, but also offers Abraham a passionate, fulfilling love that he had never known with Sarah. When Sarah, unexpectedly, gives birth to Isaac, she drives Hagar and Ishmael away, arousing a deep-seated murderous rage in Abraham that threatens the life of Isaac, all in the name of the new God.
The author sheds new light on the biblical story, exploring what it was like to come out of a polytheistic society and serve a single, new and invisible God. Sarah is portrayed as a high priestess in service to Inanna, the goddess of love and war. When called on, Sarah performs the erotic Sacred Marriage Rite as part of her religious duties, in Ur, Egypt and Canaan. Only through deep, personal sorrow does she come to shift her allegiance to Abraham's new God.
The book finally addresses a critical, central human question: How can we ever know the will of God with any certainty?
