I am pleased to welcome Ellen Rachlin to my blog today to share an excerpt of her novel, “Enheduanna’s Song From The Sands.” I would like to thank The Coffee Pot Book Club and Ellen Rachlin for allowing me to participate in this blog tour.
Eight years ago, I was bitten by a desire that I can’t forget. I was seven and with my mother in Azupiranu, the City of Saffron, and Father’s birthplace. We were at the Temple when I had a vision of my paternal grandmother, the former High Priestess, whom I’d never met. Ever since she revealed herself to me, I’ve wanted to be a high priestess too.
Even my father had no memory of her. Only rarely did my parents speak of her. And I never received a good answer to how a high priestess could give birth to a mortal son. High priestesses are married to gods. They aren’t supposed to have children.
I assume that’s why she gave father away. She tried to protect him by sending him downriver alone in a sealed basket. Akki, the royal gardener of Kish, found Father at the riverbank and raised him. When Mother brought me to Azupiranu on holiday, I believe she was looking for him. She’d lead me along a sloped embankment to the Euphrates riverbank where Father’s journey to Kish began.
On that long-ago trip to Azupiranu, when I was steeped in grief, my grandmother appeared to me. It was on the day before Mother’s, and I was to return home to Agade. A cooling breeze from the East set in as we arrived at grandmother’s old Temple. She lived in the giparu where usually only the High Priestess and priestesses can enter. But on this day, Mother and I were permitted inside. She tugged my hand, and I followed her across the sacred courtyard, stepping lightly on my toes with my head tilted upwards, taking in the tops of the carved stone archways.
The current High Priestess received us in her golden throne room and invited us to spend the night. Mother was allowed to climb to the mountain house, the highest point of the Temple, to spend the night. It’s the room closest to the gods, at the meeting place of Heaven and Earth. Mother left me all alone below in the care of the priestesses.
As she ascended all three of the mountain house’s sacred platforms, she slipped away from me, becoming smaller and smaller. I stood at the base, and tears escaped my eyes. She told me that she was going to pray to Ninurta, the god of farming and healing.
For several hours, I barely spoke to the priestesses. They chattered at me as they led me through the temple rooms and grand kitchens. All I could think of was that Mother didn’t allow me to go with her to touch the Heavens. I vowed that one day I would serve as high priestess at a temple with a grand mountain house. Then I would decide who was permitted to enter it. But that same night, the Heavens came to me. I saw a woman who looked as familiar to me as my own face. But she was more beautiful with a narrower nose and fuller bottom lip than mine; her dark almond-shaped eyes were the same. She sat on a small curved throne, enveloped in brilliantly colored woven fabrics. One shawl, the color of the morning sun, covered her head, grazed her shoulders, and flowed down her back. She called me to
her. I could sense her breath. I moved closer, just close enough to stare at her curiously familiar face.
Perhaps because she was speaking to a child, her words were slow and cautious. It took some moments for me to take them in, so I don’t recall her first words. But their meaning I understood—it was a warning that women are doomed to be forgotten and that I should take advantage of my blessed birthright, tell my story, and defend the beliefs of our people. I remember her asking me, “Do you understand me?”
Maybe because I dreamed of being a high priestess as Father intended, serving Inanna, I remember her exact words that followed: “Great men have epics pressed into tablets and live on as the gods do. High priestesses who commit their lives to the gods are forgotten. Gilgamesh and your father remembered—you and I forgotten.”
When she spoke about the legendary king, Gilgamesh, and Father, and the scores of tablets that tell their stories, her words seemed true. Her voice became louder, more insistent, “Study history. Learn how to write so you can tell your story and achieve immortality like great men and gods.”
I’ve told no one, not even Mother, about this. At first, I wanted something all my own that night when Mother wouldn’t let me join her. Then, I put the vision aside, but not my desire to become a high priestess and climb the mountain house whenever I wished.
Until recently, I had almost forgotten about that vision of my grandmother.
Blurb:
Discover the untold story of Enheduanna, the world’s first named author, as she navigates power, betrayal, and divine destiny in ancient Mesopotamia. A mesmerizing fusion of history, myth, and female leadership that challenges how we see the past—and ourselves.
A high priestess dethroned. A rebel with a dangerous plan. One empire hanging by a thread.
When Enheduanna is named High Priestess of Ur, her connection to the gods makes her a target. Lugalanne’s coup strips her of robes, power, and home, casting her into the perilous underworld. There, amid forests of shadows and treacherous trials, she discovers that divine favor alone won’t save her—only cunning, courage, and a willingness to embrace the ruthlessness of her enemies can restore her.
Drawing on history and myth, Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands follows the world’s first named author as she fights to reclaim her voice and her destiny. Political intrigue, betrayal, and divine tests collide as Enheduanna must decide whether to forgive, to fight, or to harness the power that could shake the foundations of an empire. For readers who love The Song of Achilles’s intimate heroism, Circe’s mythic depth, or The Daughters of Sparta’s fierce women, this is a mesmerizing dive into ancient Mesopotamia where courage and cunning are the only paths to survival.
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/472x5R
Author Bio:
Ellen Rachlin’s poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Comstock Review, Granta, Court Green, Literary Imagination, and various anthologies. She has published two collections of her poems, Until Crazy Catches Me (Antrim House, 2008) and Permeable Divide (Antrim House, 2017), winner of the 2018 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award.
She has a historical fiction novel, Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands, based on the life of Enheduanna, the Akkadian high priestess and world’s first-named author, forthcoming from Histria Books, and a collection of poems, At the Big Bang Resort, forthcoming from Red Hen Press.
She is also the author of two chapbooks, Waiting for Here (Finishing Line Press, 2004), a finalist in the New Women’s Voices series, and Captive to Residue (Flarestack Publishing, 2009). She received her MFA from Antioch University. She serves as Treasurer of The Poetry Society of America and is a partner at Blue Leaf Ventures.
Other writing genres include numerous textbooks and journal articles on the subject of finance and investing with various publishers, including Wiley.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.ellenrachlin.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Ellen-Rachlin-author/61583923434907/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenrachlin/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Ellen-Rachlin/author/B002LFQWRM
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8068457.Ellen_Rachlin
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Praise for Enheduanna’s Song From The Sands (optional):
“In finely detailed prose, Ellen Rachlin brings Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, to life, as well as the mythic figures of Inanna and Ereshkigal of the Underworld. Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands is filled with conflict and intensity, each quest, not only a matter of achieving power, but of life and death.”
~Regina McBride, author of Stranger from Across the Sea
“Ellen Rachlin’s sumptuously detailed debut novel Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands tells the remarkable true story of the ancient high priestess Enheduanna. Rachlin guides us through the intrigues, secrets, spies and wars of Enheduanna’s times, bringing this gifted woman and the goddess she served to life. What’s so singular about this heroine? Daughter of a king, a spiritual leader, and a poet, she signs her hymns with her own name. In Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands, the first known author in Western recorded history is a gutsy woman! Thanks to Rachlin’s imagination and rich research, I fell in love with Enheduanna and relished her anguished and opulent story.”
~ Molly Peacock, Author of The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72
“Enheduanna’s hymns to the goddess Inanna are the first known literary works to name an author. Rachlin brings her to life in this novel set in 2300 BCE, a novel of sex, war, love, a baby in a basket, and a woman creating a new order of being. It’s historical fiction writing that reminds the reader of Hilary Mantel; you can’t put it down. You want to follow the priestess to bed, to rise, to her last fighting breath. Rachlin won’t let you put this book down.”
~Kate Gale, author of Under a Neon Sun and Swimming the Milky Way
“I could not put this book down! As a history buff, I always love reading historical fiction, and this book was so amazing. Reading Enheduanna’s struggle and overcoming hardships as a high priestess were so inspiring and intriguing to read about. If you loved books like The Song of Achilles than you would love this book as well.”
– Elda Rastoder Net Galley Reviewer
“I’m OBSESSED. This is a rich and beautiful story of stepping into power and making hard decisions, told with a wonderful, brilliant voice perfect for its historical setting. The blend of intense drama, action, and conflict/reflection with oneself and the world around was executed so well. I really liked the addition of the footnotes and references because they tied this fantasy story in with real history; that was a smart addition. I fell in love with Enheduanna and the ancient high priestess’ intricate story, and I simply could not put this book down. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves ancient history and feminist retellings of true stories.”
~ Seeta Net Galley Reviewer
“A historical fiction about an almost forgotten but formidable high priestess in Ancient Mesopotamia. Enheduanna is the daughter of the king Sargon, and has been destined to become high priestess since receiving visions of a goddess from a young age. After a brutal SA on her journey, her desire for power turns hungry from wanting revenge. She experiences isolation, punishing rebels, and mastering her intimidation. Learning that seeking divine power is not the way, she begins to once more find alignment with values and creation, which led her to become high priestess in the first place. Tracing the course of Enheduanna’s rise to power, many important aspects of Mesopotamia 2300 BCE mythology and Enheduanna’s life are explored. Enheduanna was such a powerful FMC in this book and woman in real life, I’m truly so grateful to have learned about her. Ellen Rachlin’s writing captures the powerful and divine moments of Enheduanna’s life and suspends them before you so you may be there right alongside.”
~ Morgan ARC reader
“Enheduanna’s Song from the Sands is a historical fantasy surrounding the life and actions of Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon the Great and High Priestess of Ur, a powerful religious and business leader who lived approximately two thousand years before Virgil. Ellen Rachlin entwines her history with myth in a novel about the world’s first named author, who finds herself the focal point of conflict, transformation, and choices surrounding an extraordinary power rising in ancient Mesopotamia.
From the start, the first-person story builds an evocative, compelling scenario that draws readers with passion and insight:
Inanna, supreme in Heaven and Earth, ruler over all gods, I beg of you: restore me to my temple, bring me home! In the ancient city of Ur, I no longer breathe the salty air, lift myself from the sacred bed, or unravel Ningal’s dreams for my followers. The southern stars have slipped away from me; Now I walk the thorny brush of the northern mountainside. As I sing your blessed song, I am dying.
A host of equally memorable characters enter Enheduanna’s life and chambers, from Darda, the son of Purushanda’s former king, to her mother and father, Sargon and Tashlultum, Uanna and Nidintu, women who are part of a core circle Enheduanna thinks she can trust, and others from different sides of an evolving rebellion.
Enheduanna tries to fulfill her destiny, but often winds up feeling isolated and uncertain:
“…in this forest of knowledge, the faces of some of my closest friends are becoming increasingly obscured.”
As Enheduanna faces riots, rebels, and intrigue, her world comes to life with a host of social, political, and personal issues; all of which she navigates with authority and, sometimes, uncertainty: “I fear we’re losing real ground to our enemy.”
Suffused with rage, she then documents the history of her world in vivid detail that readers will find engrossing and realistic.
Librarians and readers seeking a story of ancient history come to life will find Enheduanna’s Song from the Sands rich with detail, personalized by the protagonist’s reflections as she steps into her power and makes difficult choices.
Filled with dramatic action and confrontations with self as well as the outside world, Enheduanna’s Song from the Sands will appeal both to leisure readers and scholarly students of ancient times. The former will appreciate the high drama and personal touches; the latter the footnotes and references which cement events and fantasy in a layer of real history.
An important footnote by the author clarifies why this novel should be in any serious collection of women’s history, as well as in fantasy and historical fiction holdings:
I stumbled across Enheduanna while researching Sargon the Great. No one I knew, including poets, had ever heard of her or her hymns. When I began to uncover what was more broadly known about Enheduanna, it astounded me that the first-named author in history was not only a virtual unknown, but a woman who lived in a male-dominated culture.”
~ Diane Donovan, Midwest Review, on recommended reading list
England was undergoing a shift during the reign of Henry VIII. The king was sick and tired of the pope not giving him the divorce he so desired so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, so he wanted to split from the papacy. Obviously, some opposed his break from Rome and used different methods to stop what they considered madness. Take, for example, Elizabeth Barton, known as the Holy Maid of Kent, for her prophecies tied to the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Many may not know her name, but centuries later, a book of her prophecies will change the course of Dr. Alison Sage’s life and those who attended a special Consortium. What secrets does this book hold, and can Alison survive the cutthroat world of academia? Jennifer N. Brown tells the tale of these two women, separated by centuries, and of a book that unites them in her first novel, “The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton.”
I am pleased to welcome Nicola Harris to my blog today to share an excerpt from her novel, “Infidel-The Daughters of Aragon.” I would like to thank Nicola Harris and Yarde Book Promotions for allowing me to participate in this blog tour.
Blurb:
Author Bio:
The year is 1527, and Rome is being attacked by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his army of Germans, Lutherans, and Spanish soldiers. The night the city was sacked, many fled or died at the hands of the soldiers, but there was a house who welcomes the incoming attackers, the house of the courtesan Fiammetta Bianchini and her dwarf companion Bucino. They decide to flee with their jewelry to Venice, but they soon learn that Venice is even more treacherous. Can Fiammetta and Bucino survive their new city, or will this new town destroy everything that they worked so hard to create? Sarah Dunant explores the world of a courtesan in her novel, “In the Company of the Courtesan.”