The Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim), of the Hebrew Bible. In most Christian canons it is treated as one of the historical books and placed between Judges and 1 Samuel.
Methuselah was a biblical patriarch and a figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He had the longest lifespan of all those given in the Bible, having died at the age of 969. According to the Book of Genesis, Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah. Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1 Chronicles, Genesis, and the Gospel of Luke.
Lazarus Long is a fictional character featured in a number of science fiction novels by Robert A. Heinlein. Born in 1912 in the third generation of a selective breeding experiment run by the Ira Howard Foundation, Lazarus becomes unusually long-lived, living well over two thousand years with the aid of occasional rejuvenation treatments. Heinlein "patterned" Long on science fiction writer Edward E. Smith, mixed with Jack Williamson's fictional Giles Habibula.
Barbara Kingsolver is a Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist, essayist and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a non-fiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.
Go Tell It on the Mountain is a 1953 semi-autobiographical novel by James Baldwin. It tells the story of John Grimes, an intelligent teenager in 1930s Harlem, and his relationship with his family and his church. The novel also reveals the back stories of John's mother, his biological father, and his violent, fanatically religious stepfather, Gabriel Grimes. The novel focuses on the role of the Pentecostal Church in the lives of African Americans, both as a negative source of repression and moral hypocrisy and a positive source of inspiration and community. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Go Tell It on the Mountain 39th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Time magazine included the novel on its list of the 100 best English-language novels released from 1923 to 2005.
Throughout history, printers' errors, unconventional translations and translation mistakes have appeared in a number of published Bibles. Bibles with features considered to be erroneous are known as Bible errata, and were often destroyed or suppressed due to their contents being considered heretical by some.
The Bean Trees is the first novel by American writer Barbara Kingsolver. It was published in 1988 and reissued in 1998. The novel is followed by the sequel Pigs in Heaven.
A handmaiden is a personal maid or female servant. Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of slave status or may be simply an employee. The terms handmaiden and handmaid are synonyms.
The Red Tent is a historical novel by Anita Diamant, published in 1997 by Wyatt Books for St. Martin's Press. It is a first-person narrative that tells the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, sister of Joseph. She is a minor character in the Bible, but the author has broadened her story. The book's title refers to the tent in which women of Jacob's tribe must, according to the ancient law, take refuge while menstruating or giving birth, and in which they find mutual support and encouragement from their mothers, sisters and aunts.
Friends and Heroes is a Canadian Christian children's program that airs on TBN, Smile of a Child TV, and was also shown on BBC TV. The show is both traditionally animated and computer animated. It takes place from 69–71 AD, during the First Jewish–Roman War. There are three seasons or "series", each comprising 13 episodes: Season 1 is set in Alexandria, Egypt; Season 2 in Jerusalem and Season 3 in Rome. The series was created by Brian D. Brown and Eric J. Danenberg, who also worked on The Storykeepers. Gary Kurtz, the producer for season one, also produced American Graffiti, Star Wars, and The Empire Strikes Back. Starting with the second season, the show is produced in HD.
Rachel was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aunt Rebecca was Jacob's mother.
The term Bible fiction refers to works of fiction which use characters, settings and events taken from the Bible. The degree of fictionalization in these works varies and, although they are often written by Christians or Jews, this is not always the case.
NW is a 2012 novel by British author Zadie Smith. It takes its title from the NW postcode area in North-West London, where the novel is set. The novel is experimental and follows four different characters living in London, shifting between first and third person, stream-of-consciousness, screenplay-style dialogue, and other narrative techniques in an attempt to reflect the polyphonic nature of contemporary, urban life. It was nominated for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Flight Behavior is a 2012 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It is her seventh novel, a New York Times Bestseller, and was declared "Best book of the year" by the Washington Post and USA Today.
Ruth 4 is the fourth chapter of the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, part of the Ketuvim ("Writings"). This chapter contains the story of how Boaz goes up to the city gate, calls his kinsman; inquires whether he would redeem and marry Ruth, Ruth 4:1-5. He refuses, Ruth 4:6-8. Boaz, with the people witnessing and congratulating, buys the inheritance, and marries Ruth, Ruth 4:9-12. She gave birth to Obed the grandfather of King David, Ruth 4:13-17. The genealogy from Perez (Pharez) to David, Ruth 4:18-22.
Unsheltered is a 2018 novel by Barbara Kingsolver published by HarperCollins. It follows two families living in the same house at two separate time periods in Vineland, New Jersey. The novel alternates between the 21st century and the 19th century, using the last words of one chapter as the title of the next one. One family lived in the house in the 1800s and the other family resides in the house in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Jenny Tinghui Zhang is a Chinese-American writer from Austin, Texas.
Demon Copperhead is a 2022 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It was a co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and won the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Kingsolver was inspired by the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield. While Kingsolver's novel is similarly about a boy born into poverty, Demon Copperhead is set in Appalachia and explores contemporary issues.
Monica West is an American writer. She is the author of the novel Revival Season, a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick and a finalist for the 2022 Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award.
