This is a book of a great imaginative writing. It tells the story of a suspicious death of a famous world astrophysicist, Thom Bergmann, who was on the brink of proving the existence of extraordinary civilizations. After his death, the only proofs of his findings are saved on a flash drive worn as a necklace by his wife Lucy. She is later contacted by an anthropologist, who asks her to retrieve and deliver a case which contains rare historical documents, a codex, revealing reinterpretations of the Book of Geneses, which will bring a resolution and peace to religions disagreements to all three major world religions. However, there are those who want to suppress the truth because it does not fit their singular vision. The religious fundamentalists who are afraid that the truth will threaten the very foundation of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions are on a world-wide hunt to destroy the ancient codex and the flash drive. During Lucy’s transportation of the ancient codex, her airplane crashes and she finds herself in Eden and meets Adam. They get to experience the paradise together until the inevitable conflict.
The plot brilliantly and cleverly incorporates the Bible, the scene of creation of Adam and Eve with that of science and science fiction, extraterrestrials, Lucy, the oldest fossilized human remains found in Africa, the ancient painting in Lascaux caves in France. However, I must say that the first part of the book read better then the second half, which is less imaginative and a little fragmented.
This fast paced book will please all readers of adventure, romance and thriller alike. This book points out the absurdity of wars, violence and religious fanaticism.
It is possibly a Dan Brown or “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks Read-Alike.
Naslund is a graduate of Iowa Writers Workshop. I was pleased to find out that the book Ahab’s wife, I read and liked so much ten years ago, was also written by her.