The Rape Of Tamar
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
From the violent corridors of King David's court emerges one of the Bible's most harrowing and overlooked stories — Dan Jacobson's The Rape of Tamar resurrects the dark episode from the Book of Samuel, in which the princess Tamar is violated by her half-brother Amnon, and chronicles the catastrophic ripple of silence, shame, and revenge that follows. Set against the opulent yet treacherous backdrop of ancient Israel, this novel is narrated by Yonadab, Amnon's cunning and morally ambiguous cousin, whose scheming hand sets the tragedy in motion and whose voice gives the story its unsettling, confessional power. Jacobson transforms a few spare biblical verses into a fully realised psychological drama, dissecting the dynamics of power, desire, and complicity with unflinching precision. A South African-born British author celebrated for his intellectual rigour and narrative control, Jacobson presents in this work a masterclass in unreliable narration — Yonadab is at once self-serving and self-aware, implicating the reader in his own voyeuristic guilt. The novel argues that the true crime is not only the act itself, but the institutional silence enforced by a patriarchal court unwilling to disturb the peace of power. Rich with moral ambiguity and written in prose of sharp, almost judicial clarity, The Rape of Tamar stands as a landmark of postmodern biblical fiction — and leaves the reader questioning not just the characters, but the nature of storytelling itself.
Author: Dan Jacobson
Format: Hardback
Genre: Historical fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
From the violent corridors of King David's court emerges one of the Bible's most harrowing and overlooked stories — Dan Jacobson's The Rape of Tamar resurrects the dark episode from the Book of Samuel, in which the princess Tamar is violated by her half-brother Amnon, and chronicles the catastrophic ripple of silence, shame, and revenge that follows. Set against the opulent yet treacherous backdrop of ancient Israel, this novel is narrated by Yonadab, Amnon's cunning and morally ambiguous cousin, whose scheming hand sets the tragedy in motion and whose voice gives the story its unsettling, confessional power. Jacobson transforms a few spare biblical verses into a fully realised psychological drama, dissecting the dynamics of power, desire, and complicity with unflinching precision. A South African-born British author celebrated for his intellectual rigour and narrative control, Jacobson presents in this work a masterclass in unreliable narration — Yonadab is at once self-serving and self-aware, implicating the reader in his own voyeuristic guilt. The novel argues that the true crime is not only the act itself, but the institutional silence enforced by a patriarchal court unwilling to disturb the peace of power. Rich with moral ambiguity and written in prose of sharp, almost judicial clarity, The Rape of Tamar stands as a landmark of postmodern biblical fiction — and leaves the reader questioning not just the characters, but the nature of storytelling itself.