A provocative epic of a story we know so well—or do we? Once expelled from the Garden, Adam and Eve had to find their way past recriminations and bitterness to build a new life in a harsh land. In Fallen, David Maine has drawn a convincing, enthralling portrait of a family—one driven (and riven) by familiar passions and jealousies. The result is a staggering achievement an intimate, hilarious, and utterly original telling of temptation and murder and of exile and loss. Praise for The Preservationist: "Inventive re-imagining of the Biblical flood tale for a 21 st-century audience." - People "An elegant, inventive book... [that] envisions the events in Noah's life with awe and realism." - The New York Times "A brilliant, kaleidoscopic analysis of the situation...this debut is a winner." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Author David Maine brings motive and inner dialogue to the story, and narrator Simon Vance brings those elements alive." AudioFile Magazine
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"Beautifully written, this interpretation of the Cain/Abel, Adam/Eve stories really gave the classic Bible characters a tangible humanity. I enjoyed Maine's non-linear time frame. The book does an excellent job of examining each character's feelings, motivations, and relationships to one another."
— Alexis (4 out of 5 stars)
“An elegant, inventive book…[that] envisions the events in Noah’s life with awe and realism.”
— New York Times“Inventive re-imagining of the Biblical flood tale for a 21st century audience.”
— People“Author David Maine brings motive and inner dialogue to the story, and narrator Simon Vance brings those elements alive, from Cain’s rage at the God who cast his parents from Eden and his regret at his murder of Abel, to Eve’s fears during the first childbirth and Abel’s and Adam’s faithful love of God.”
— AudioFile“A brilliant, kaleidoscopic analysis of the situation…this debut is a winner.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)Author David Maine brings motive and inner dialogue to the story, and narrator Simon Vance brings those elements alive, from Cain's rage at the God who cast his parents from Eden and his regret at his murder of Abel, to Eve's fears during the first childbirth and Abel's and Adam's faithful love of God.
— AudioFile" Interesting take on life after the flight from the Garden of Eden "
— Christine, 2/14/2014" Quite an interesting book, I realized that I am not as familiar with the Abel and Cain Stories in the Bible as I thought I was. Good read and interesting way to set up the book. The chapters are backwards, which took a little getting used to. "
— Tara, 2/4/2014" Interesting version of the Cain and Abel story, written backwards when Cain is an adult. The story more back through time allowing the ready to gain empathy toward Cain. It's a remarkable and refreshing look at an ancient story. "
— Marie-clare, 1/31/2014" A very insightful and suprisingly delightful read. Well written and easily read it "breathes life" into a very well know biblical story. "
— Danyel, 1/13/2014" interesting & different -- biblical story told in reverse "
— Kelly, 12/25/2013" Well, The Red Tent, this isn't. Maine tells his story in third person, focusing on one character at a time. His first character is Cain and is not linear. Although the author titles his chapters with the sequence, it gets a bit confusing at times. No one is saint and no one a sinner (that includes God, as Maine protrays him as arbitrary and feckless). But give the author his due, he sticks to the protrayal of the God of the Old Testament. "
— Sherie, 12/16/2013" A really interesting perspective on the Genisis story. "
— Myshell, 12/11/2013" Good quick read that brings up a lot of the age old philosophical questions on faith and reason "
— Jamie, 12/2/2013" An interesting take on Cain & Abel and I really enjoyed the reverse chronology of the story. "
— Daniel, 11/24/2013" Not worth the time I wasted on this. "
— Russell, 10/13/2013" One of the most told stories in our culture, yet it's told in a new, really interesting, slightly unnerving way in "Fallen." "
— Shelly, 8/14/2013David Maine was born and raised in Connecticut but spent much of his life living in Morocco and Pakistan. His first novel was The Preservationist, a retelling of the Noah story from Genesis. This was followed by Fallen, which re-examined the stories of Eve and Adam and Abel and Cain. His is also the author of The Gamble of the Godless.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.