Histria Books is pleased to announce the release of Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands by Ellen Rachlin. This novel is published by Histria Fiction, an imprint of Histria Books dedicated to outstanding original works of fiction.
Set in the brilliant, contested world of ancient Mesopotamia, Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands reimagines the life of history’s earliest named author: a royal daughter, high priestess and poet whose words could move gods, cities and rulers. Against the rise of empire, the novel follows a woman learning what authority costs when faith, desire, violence and statecraft are impossible to separate.
This deeply feminist historical novel makes ancient Mesopotamia feel immediate rather than remote. Its temples are places of labour and influence, its hymns acts of public power, and its struggles for control play out in homes, markets and holy spaces as much as on the battlefield. Enheduanna’s voice is sharp, vulnerable and often wry, alive to the sacrifices expected of women who refuse to be sidelined. Set at the dawn of recorded literature, the novel asks who gets to speak for a people, whose stories endure, and how writing can become an act of survival and defiance.
Praise for Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands:
A historically accurate and well-drawn portrait of a fascinating female historical protagonist.
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“In finely detailed prose, Ellen Rachlin brings Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, to life, as well as the mythic figures of Inanna and Ereshkigal of the Underworld. Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands is filled with conflict and intensity, each quest, not only a matter of achieving power, but of life and death.”
-Regina McBride, author of The White Deer
Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands is Ellen Rachlin’s debut novel. She is the author of three collections of poetry: At the Big Bang Resort (forthcoming from Red Hen Press), Permeable Divide, and Until Crazy Catches Me, as well as two chapbooks: Captive to Residue and Waiting for Here. She is the recipient of an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award and has been a finalist for other awards. Rachlin currently serves as treasurer of the Poetry Society of America.
