Adiel by Shlomo DuNour

Adiel is a re-telling of the Old Testament story of the Bible, from the Creation of Adam and Eve through the ten generations that culminates with Noah and the Flood. It is told through the observations of Adiel, an angel, appointed by God and the Archangel Michael, whose responsibility it is to record the events of Man--a sort of protective angel of history. Utilizing the ancient forms of Midrash, the Jewish term for literary and creative Biblical exposition, it is a reflection on the place of man in the universe, and on good and evil.The angel Adiel is chosen to witness the tragedies of the ten generations of man.

Translated by Philip Simpson.

SHLOMO DUNOUR was born in 1921, in Lodz, Poland, and immigrated to Palestine in 1938. None of his extensive family survived the Holocaust. One of the leaders of the Aliyat HaNoar Movement, he taught at the Departments of History at both the Hebrew University and at the University of Haifa for many years. In 1978, Du Nour’s first book, Yet Another was awarded the Newman Prize. Adiel, published to great acclaim, was awarded the Jerusalem Literary Prize in 1999 and has been selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Program. He was married to the author and translator, Miriam DuNour, for almost 60 years, and lives in Jerusalem.

“How great and important is the Bible if it still can — ancient as it is — produce from within it such a wonderful tale, amusing, wise and emotional as your Adiel. How did you gather the courage to do this? To let yourself be carried away in fantasy, a task in which you could have easily failed, but instead succeeded with great dignity. Here's to you, my friend. From now on, we must beware of you.”
A B Yehoshua

“Adiel is an original and daring book… following in august footsteps, from the great masters of Midrash through John Milton.”
The Jerusalem Post