The Wanderer Scorned by Natasha Woodcraft Book Review

About the Book:

A journey from faith, through fractured fears to fratricide. The first murderer tells his story.

The Wanderer is a man shrouded in legend. Moving from place to place in the land of Nod, he is known primarily for the curse that hangs over his life. When a gloating killer invokes that curse in celebration of a murderous rampage, The Wanderer is summoned.

Now the truth obscured by centuries of rumour is revealed, as the man behind the legend finally tells his story. It’s a journey from faith, through fractured fears to fratricide. And it all started with the banishment.

 

My Review:

This novel is an innovative idea in biblical fiction. The story of Cain and Abel in the Bible is but a few verses. We may just read over it without thinking much of who these men were or what drove them to do what they did. Woodcraft has given us a potential human drama leading up to the climactic event.

Woodcraft reveals her extensive research and reasons for writing what she did in an Appendix. I appreciate her staying as true as possible to what is indicated by the original language. She covered interesting concepts such as how God spoke to people, how they learned to cultivate grain and raise animals and how they began to worship.

The most interesting ideas she wrote about were the personal interactions. We read of the lingering guilt Abba (Adam) felt and the difficulty of reestablishing a meaningful relationship with his wife. I was fascinated with the temptation of Kayin with serpents hissing in his ears. I was dismayed with the love interest and how that developed into jealousy with deadly ramifications.

I am impressed with this fictional dive into how the character of Kayin (Cain) developed into an ultimate act of violence. The novel really brought out the possible human drama before the murder. Woodcraft says she wanted to portray someone readers could understand. She did a good job of doing that. She has included discussion questions at the end so this could be one for a book group.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

 

About the Author:

Natasha Woodcraft lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband, four (extra) boys, a spotty dog and a tank of misbehaving fish. She holds a first-class honours degree in Theology from the University of London and is passionate about communicating the love of God and truths about Jesus Christ to the world through writing and music.

Natasha is the author of The Wanderer Series – biblical fiction set in ancient times – and is currently writing The Tower on the Plain, a fantasy series for Young Adults. She has released several Christian Songs, including Plan for the World, Glorious Trinity and The Potter.

Natasha is a member of the UK-based Association of Christian Writers, the American Christian Fiction Writers and the Christian Independent Publishers Association. She blogs on her website https://natashawoodcraft.com/. 

W W & S Publishing, 272 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Book Sirens. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)