In their world they are alone...a family haunted by banishment, struggling for survival in a harsh new land. A woman who has borne and buried children, Eve sees danger shadowing those she loves, while her husband drifts further and further from the man he was in the Garden, blinded by his need to rebuild a life outside of Eden. One daughter, alluring, self-absorbed Naava, turns away from their beliefs. Another, crippled, ever-faithful Aya, harbors a fateful secret, while brothers Cain and Abel become adversaries, and Dara, the youngest, is chosen for a fate of her own.

In one hot, violent summer, by the shores of the muddy Euphrates, strangers arrive on their land. New gods challenge their own. And for Eve, a time of reckoning is at hand. The woman who once tasted the forbidden fruit of paradise sees her family unraveling - as brother turns on brother, culminating in a confrontation that will have far-reaching consequences for them all.

From a woman's first awakening to a mother's innermost hopes and fears, from moments of exquisite tenderness to a climax of shocking violence, Eve takes us on a breathtaking journey of the imagination. A novel that has it all - romantic love, lust, cruelty, heroism, envy, sacrifice, murder - Eve is a work of mesmerizing literary invention.

Elissa Elliott is a contributing writer to Books & Culture, and has optioned her first screenplay. She and her husband, Daniel Elliott, live in Rochester, Minnesota. This is her first novel.