Ashes Like Bread

Author: Jean Hoefling
Genre: Biblical Fiction

A scorned prophetess. A deadly omen. Will this kinswoman of Adam and Eve persevere with intuition she can’t deny?

Zyla is used to the elders of the clan rejecting her dark glimpses into the future, and bitter that she doesn’t receive the honor she believes she deserves. When her forecast of a terrible flood gets her exiled, she and her sister flee the mountain of Eden to live among evil descendants of the murderer Cain. There, Zyla is willing to do anything to advance her status, even if it means becoming a second wife to her sister's desirable husband, or aligning with forbidden spiritual powers.

When the flood Zyla prophesied slams into her new home, the outcast must decide who she really loves and what is worth risking death for. Will she be strong enough to find hope on the other side of the waters, or will the devastation sweep her and her prophecies away forever?

If you like ancient legends and dramatic Old Testament re-imaginings, you'll love this biblical fiction novel based on a story from Genesis 4. ​​

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Reviewer: Kandace Perry

Ashes Like Bread, by Jean Hoefling, is a bold and vivid account of what the lives of the fifth generation descendants of Adam and Eve may have been like. Jean carries you down the holy mountain and across the hot, blazing heat of the sand dunes; only to discover that life was much worse than how your ancestors described it.

Two sisters suddenly find themselves marrying the same man and immersed in the difficulties and challenges of a new clan, a clan fighting for power, domination, and warfare with both the spiritual realm and the descendants of Adam. The sisters scratch and claw at each other for years, until they learn acceptance and understanding, and only then can they scratch and claw their way back up those blazing sand dunes (that are quickly being washed away by a great flood) and head towards the holy mountain.. one sister searching for her lost sons and the other searching for forgiveness and acceptance from a family and God she abandoned years ago and ultimately the freedom to be the person God created her to be.

Jean writes with a passionate, vivid quality that draws you in and keeps you turning the page.

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Reviewer: Eva-Joy Schonhaar

Wow.  Rarely have I been pulled into a book so thoroughly and held captive by the amazing characters and world within its pages.  Jean Hoefling is an incredible author and I'm really excited to read more of her work!  I've never read a book set in a pre-Flood world but it's definitely a time period I'd like to read more of (even if much of the world-building is left to the author's imagination).

WHAT I LIKED:

• Um...almost everything?
• The writing was beautiful. Thoughtful, lyrical, and just a little formal - the dialogue and narration fit with how I think characters in that time period would talk and think.  I don't come across too many books these days that are truly written well, so Ashes Like Bread was a breath of fresh air.
• The characters had my heart!  Each one goes through so many changes and so much character growth, which I LOVED. Zyla was a great protagonist, even if she sometimes behaved in rather horrid ways.  I hope there'll be a sequel because I want to spend more time with these people. (Though I'm still sad about a Certain Thing That Happened Near The End Which I Can't Talk About Because Of Spoilers).
• The story gripped me.  Sure, the beginning was a little slow (basically, all the time Zyla spent with the Sethites didn't interest me too much - but once she left, I could hardly stop reading) but overall it was a thoroughly interesting story that I wish was longer.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

• The only thing I didn't like about this book, other than the slow beginning (and I'd probably enjoy the beginning more on a reread) was the amount of sexual references. I understand that the Canaanites were a crude, horrible people compared to the Sethites (at least in some ways) but certain parts of the book left me feeling like I needed to scrub my brain clean. The content would definitely be a hard PG-13, if not creeping into R-rated territory. So definitely only for mature readers.

Overall, mature readers who enjoy Biblical fiction, well-told, will be in for a treat when they read Ashes Like Bread!

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