Fredriksson, Marianne "The Book of Eve"

Fredriksson, Marianne "The Book of Eve" (Swedish: Evas bok) (Paradisets barn/The Children of Paradise #1) - 1980

After reading "Hanna's Daughters" and "Simon and the Oaks" by my name sister Marianne Fredriksson, I was happy to tackle another one of her books. This one is slightly different, although it only looks like this at first glance.

Eve - we all know Eve, you know, the wife of Adam, mother of Cain and Abel. Yes, THAT Eve! From Paradise. But we only know that she gave the forbidden fruit to Adam and is guilty of all the hardships we women have to bear. Otherwise, the bible is not very explicit about her life, neither before nor after being expelled from paradise.

This novel tells us what happens to Adam and Eve after they leave the Garden of Eden, how they lead their life, how they cope with the death of their son. Eve goes back to paradise where she meets the people she left. It's especially interesting after having read "Sapiens" and "The Good Book of Human Nature" where they compare the bible with the evolution.

So, Eve returns to her people who are hunters and gatherers whereas Adam and his family has started to become settlers and farmers. She also learns how to use plants for curing illnesses.
Quite an interesting story that tells us how our ancestors might have lived. I shall try to read the next two books in this "Children of Paradise" trilogy, "The Book of Cain" and "The Saga of Norea".

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

From the back cover:

"A fictional version of the biblical scenario of Adam and Eve, in which Eve leaves the family shortly after their son Cain murders his brother Abel. She travels out in the world in search of their origin and of knowledge about their existence.

This is the first published novel by Marianne Fredriksson and the first book in her trilogy 'The Children of Paradise'. It was later published in a collection volume with the same name, together with 'The Book of Cain' (book two) and 'The Saga of Norea' (book three)."

Fredriksson, Marianne "Simon and The Oaks"

Fredriksson, Marianne "Simon and The Oaks" (aka Simon's Family) (Swedish: Simon och ekarna) - 1985 

After reading "Hannah's Daughters" with two different book clubs, I always wanted to read another book by Marianne Fredriksson again. And I finally found one. I didn't regret it, a wonderful tale about a friendship that is lined with many obstacles, about a boy growing up not feeling he belongs, about a family with a secret and a country having to deal with a war that is going on all around them, just not directly in their home.

Marianne Fredriksson was a very powerful author who can tell us about a time not that long ago but still unknown to many of us. She manages to weave a plentiful story by adding a colour here and a character there, links that are not that obvious at first but get more and more certain after a while.

A lot of Scandinavian authors are known for their crime stories and I am sure they have a worthy place among the world authors of this genre. Marianne Fredriksson also deserves a place there.

From the back cover:

"Simon is an ordinary boy growing up in rural Sweden. Ordinary that is until the Second World War is declared; until he makes friends with Isak, a psychologically damaged Jewish boy who has fled with his father from Nazi Germany; and until he is told that he is adopted - that the working class couple he has assumed to be his parents are, in reality, distant relations. His biological parents had met and, with no common language, loved each other in an enchanted spot under a waterfall nine years previously.

So begins Simon's quest for self-hood: a quest which takes him through the bitter privations of the Second World War, through his military service, and through a destructive relationship with Isak's cousin recently liberated from a concentration camp. And, always in the background, his beloved step-mother watches over him, as constant as the oak trees on the cliff top that whispered their secrets to him when he was a child."

Fredriksson, Marianne "Hanna's Daughters"

Fredriksson, Marianne "Hanna's Daughters" (Swedish: Anna, Hanna og Johanna) - 1994

"Hanna. Johanna. Anna. Three women, three generations, one family.
…. this luminous, heartfelt novel spans more than a hundred years in the lives of three remarkable women - a daughter, mother, and grandmother - lives shaped by the epic sweep of history and linked through a century of great love and great loss."

I actually discussed this with two different book clubs, first my English one in England in September 1999 and then with the international book club.

A remarkable story about the life of women and how it changed during the last century. The story is situated in Sweden but it could have happened anywhere in Europe.

Everybody really liked this book. Comments went from "I liked this book very much; I enjoyed the book; it's honest and tells the situations truthfully; the story of Hanna is very impressive; it's good she could write about this." to "There are three different books."

The book was considered a good, easy and amazing read, the three characters are quite believable, they were well described. Marianne Fredriksson has a way to tell the story, has you feel you know the person or situation, you can identify with them. It's a gift to write like the author. There is so much in this book though it is quite short. Some books are much larger and don't contain as much. It's honest, you can only talk to friends like this.

However, there were a lot of people in the story, some had to keep track of who is who, some made a list (always a good idea as soon as you realize there are too many people in a novel to remember).

Most people also enjoyed the descriptions of the landscape. The original title (Anna, Hanna og Johanna) was confusing, since they mention the granddaughter first, then grandmother, then mother. Maybe they changed it because it sounded better. Or because it was Anna who told the story.

This is definitely a woman's book (though men would benefit from reading it), it made us think about sisters, mothers and daughters. It could even be called a feminist book. There were a lot of stories, wife-beating, alcoholism, angst among women. A woman in the novel remarked you can only be a whore or a Madonna. Good to read during a sunny week (rather than in the gloomy winter months).

We are lucky today to have choices. You can also call this a burden of choice, it made us more self-centered. Johanna had all the opportunities, she chooses to be a homemaker. We then had a discussion how difficult that choice is. Being "only" a homemaker is a social downfall. Johanna and even Anna has to defend herself for staying at home.

It was interesting to see the large development from farming to city life. Also, there were a lot of superstitions, magic, people still think like that.

The novel touched two centuries. We all lived through the change of a century and realized that life keeps going on.

We discussed this in our British Book Club in September 1999 and in our international book club in June 2006.

From the back cover:

"Hanna. Johanna. Anna. Three women, three generations, one family.A #1 international bestseller in Europe, this luminous, heartfelt novel spans more than a hundred years in the lives of three remarkable women -- a daughter, mother, and grandmother -- lives shaped by the epic sweep of history and linked through a century of great love and great loss.

As Anna holds vigil at her mother's bedside, she longs for reconciliation -- not just with her mother, Johanna, but with her grandmother, Hanna, a woman she never really knew. Determined to piece together the fragments of her past, Anna sifts through tattered letters, cracked diaries, and old photographs, as the vivid lives of Hanna and Johanna at last begin to unfold.

Through shades of memory and history, longing to join the ancient threads of the family tapestry, Anna begins searching for answers to questions that have haunted her for a lifetime. What was it like for her grandmother, Hanna, more than one hundred years ago, when she married a miller and raised an illegitimate child in a staunch, rural community? What drove Anna's own mother, Johanna, once a fiery revolutionary, to settle down and become a housewife? And why did the ties binding Anna to her mother and grandmother drive all three apart -- only to bring them back together again?

Rich in insight, and resonating with truth and revelation, Hanna's Daughters is an unforgettable story, exploring the volatile ties of mothers and daughters. If you have ever wanted to connect with the past, or rediscover family, this novel will strike a chord in your heart. Marianne Fredriksson has created nothing short of a masterpiece."

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.