Enheduanna’s Song From The Sands Blog Tour

Enheduanna’s Song From The Sands blog tour is through The Coffee Pot Book Club. Share, comment, subscribe, visit another tour host with the schedule at the end.

Book Title and Author Name:

Enheduanna’s Song From The Sands

By Ellen Rachlin

Blurb:

Discover the untold story of Enheduanna, the world’s first named author, as she navigates power, betrayal, and divine destiny in ancient Mesopotamia. A mesmerizing fusion of history, myth, and female leadership that challenges how we see the past—and ourselves.

A high priestess dethroned. A rebel with a dangerous plan. One empire hanging by a thread.

When Enheduanna is named High Priestess of Ur, her connection to the gods makes her a target. Lugalanne’s coup strips her of robes, power, and home, casting her into the perilous underworld. There, amid forests of shadows and treacherous trials, she discovers that divine favor alone won’t save her—only cunning, courage, and a willingness to embrace the ruthlessness of her enemies can restore her.

Drawing on history and myth, Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands follows the world’s first named author as she fights to reclaim her voice and her destiny. Political intrigue, betrayal, and divine tests collide as Enheduanna must decide whether to forgive, to fight, or to harness the power that could shake the foundations of an empire. For readers who love The Song of Achilles’s intimate heroism, Circe’s mythic depth, or The Daughters of Sparta’s fierce women, this is a mesmerizing dive into ancient Mesopotamia where courage and cunning are the only paths to survival.

Excerpt 1:

I crawl forward before I can stand, stumbling to my feet. My legs struggle to catch up to my body. I pray this dark passageway rises to Earth back to Nanna’s throne room. Then the stench of sweat, blood, and crushed incense hits my nostrils before I grasp the chaos that caused it. Nanna’s divine instruments lay strewn about and broken. Spread across the floor, meat, barley, and wine are spilled and spoiled. From the upper windows, dawn’s grey, murky light penetrates his room.

I drag my eyes towards Nanna. The magnificent Nanna has been attacked. Axes and lances tried to break apart his body. There are hundreds of gouges and pits. Even his beautiful face wasn’t spared. Part of his beard is missing. From somewhere deep inside me, sounds come like roars as I kneel and plant my fists on the floor.

I stagger out past Nanna’s throne room to find the perpetrators. I make my way around the crushed pieces of his supreme ceremonial chariot. Even the purification water in the anteroom is fouled! In succession, I scream out, “Etana, Darda, Udama!”

But they can’t answer me. They’re north in Uruk, dealing with the rebel attack at the Temple of Inanna. The small forces that remained here were easily overpowered. I cry out again: “Uanna, Nidintu, Sagadu!” I rush to the small armory in the hallway off Nanna’s quarters to grab a broad battle axe and shield. I have no idea how many rebel perpetrators remain here.

I can’t count the number of fallen bodies strewn across the ziggurat grounds. Dawn has barely begun, but I spot the shadowy forms of five lagging rebels zig-zagging through the fallen. I will not allow them to leave. They glance at me and continue running.

They attacked Nanna, and there will be no mercy. They aren’t familiar enough with the ziggurat to escape me.

I shout at them: “You have not attacked the Akkadian King or those that serve the gods, but the gods themselves. I am their messenger. You will receive Nanna’s justice!”

They trap themselves at the ziggurat wall, failing to find the steps on their first try. I approach them, swinging a battle axe, which I drive through the face of one of the five rebels crowded there. Two of them run. There is no one to chase them, so they escape. Another freezes in his place for a moment before daring to advance on me.

I drop to the ground, roll towards him, pull a knife from under my sash, and plunge it into his throat. Then the last one charges at me, his raised short sword trembling. I step sideways and plant my axe deep into his chest.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/472x5R

Amazon US Paperback Link: https://amzn.to/4xOdovt

Amazon UK Paperback Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Enheduannas-Song-Sands-Ellen-Rachlin/dp/1592117546/

Author Bio:

Ellen Rachlin’s poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Comstock Review, Granta, Court Green, Literary Imagination, and various anthologies.  She has published two collections of her poems, Until Crazy Catches Me (Antrim House, 2008) and Permeable Divide (Antrim House, 2017), winner of the 2018 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award.  

She has a historical fiction novel, Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands, based on the life of Enheduanna, the Akkadian high priestess and world’s first-named author, forthcoming from Histria Books and a collection of poems, At the Big Bang Resort, forthcoming from Red Hen Press.

She is also the author of two chapbooks, Waiting for Here (Finishing Line Press, 2004), a finalist in the New Women’s Voices series, and Captive to Residue (Flarestack Publishing, 2009).  She received her MFA from Antioch University.  She serves as Treasurer of The Poetry Society of America and is a partner at Blue Leaf Ventures.

Other writing genres include numerous textbook and journal articles on the subject of finance and investing with various publishers including Wiley.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.ellenrachlin.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Ellen-Rachlin-author/61583923434907/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenrachlin/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Ellen-Rachlin/author/B002LFQWRM

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8068457.Ellen_Rachlin

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Praise for Enheduanna’s Song From The Sands (optional):

“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 Stranger from Across the Sea

“Ellen Rachlin’s sumptuously detailed debut novel Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands tells the remarkable true story of the ancient high priestess Enheduanna. Rachlin guides us through the intrigues, secrets, spies and wars of Enheduanna’s times, bringing this gifted woman and the goddess she served to life.  What’s so singular about this heroine?  Daughter of a king, a spiritual leader and a poet, she signs her hymns with her own name.  In Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands the first known author in western recorded history is a gutsy woman!  Thanks to Rachlin’s imagination and rich research, I fell in love with Enheduanna and relished her anguished and opulent story.“

~ Molly Peacock, Author of The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72

“Enheduanna’s hymns to the goddess Inanna are the first known literary works to name an author. Rachlin brings her to life in this novel set in 2300 BCE, a novel of sex, war, love, a baby in a basket, and a woman creating a new order of being. It’s historical fiction writing that reminds the reader of Hilary Mantel, you can’t put it down.  You want to follow the priestess to bed, to rise, to her last fighting breath. Rachlin won’t let you put this book down.“

~Kate Gale, author of Under a Neon Sun and Little Soldiers

“I could not put this book down! As a history buff I always love reading historical fiction and this book was so amazing. Reading Enheduanna’s struggle and overcoming hardships as a high priestess were so inspiring and intriguing to read about. If you loved books like The Song of Achilles than you would love this book as well.”
– Elda Rastoder Net Galley Reviewer

“I’m OBSESSED. This is a rich and beautiful story of stepping into power and making hard decisions, told with a wonderful, brilliant voice perfect for its historical setting. The blend of intense drama, action, and conflict/reflection with oneself and the world around was executed so well. I really liked the addition of the footnotes and references because they tied this fantasy story in with real history, that was a smart addition. I fell in love with Enheduanna and the ancient high priestess’ intricate story and I simply could not put this book down. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves ancient history and feminist retellings of true stories.”

~ Seeta Net Galley Reviewer

“A historical fiction about an almost forgotten but formidable high priestess in Ancient Mesopotamia. Enheduanna is the daughter of the king Sargon, and has been destined to become high priestess since receiving visions of a goddess from a young age. After a brutal SA on her journey, her desire for power turns hungry from wanting revenge. She experiences isolation, punishing rebels and mastering her intimidation. Learning that seeking divine power is not the way, she begins to once more find alignment with values and creation, which led her to become high priestess in the first place. Tracing the course of Enheduanna’s rise to power, many important aspects of Mesopotamia 2300 BCE mythology and Enheduanna’s life are explored. Enheduanna was such a powerful FMC in this book and woman in real life, I’m truly so grateful to have learned about her. Ellen Rachlin’s writing captures the powerful and divine moments of Enheduanna’s life and suspends them before you so you may be there right alongside.”

~ Morgan ARC reader

“Enheduanna’s Song from the Sands is a historical fantasy surrounding the life and actions of Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon the Great and High Priestess of Ur, a powerful religious and business leader who lived approximately two-thousand years before Virgil. Ellen Rachlin entwines her history with myth in a novel about the world’s first named author, who finds herself the focal point of conflict, transformation, and choices surrounding an extraordinary power rising in ancient Mesopotamia.

From the start, the first-person story builds an evocative, compelling scenario that draws readers with passion and insight:

Inanna, supreme in Heaven and Earth, ruler over all gods, I beg of you: restore me to my temple, bring me home! In the ancient city of Ur, I no longer breathe the salty air, lift myself from the sacred bed or unravel Ningal’s dreams for my followers. The southern stars have slipped away from me; Now I walk the thorny brush of the northern mountainside. As I sing your blessed song, I am dying.

A host of equally memorable characters enter Enheduanna’s life and chambers, from Darda, the son of Purushanda’s former king, to her mother and father, Sargon and Tashlultum, Uanna and Nidintu, women who are part of a core circle Enheduanna thinks she can trust, and others from different sides of an evolving rebellion.

Enheduanna tries to fulfill her destiny, but often winds up feeling isolated and uncertain:

“…in this forest of knowledge, the faces of some of my closest friends are becoming increasingly obscured.”

As Enheduanna faces riots, rebels, and intrigue, her world comes to life with a host of social, political, and personal issues; all of which she navigates with authority and, sometimes, uncertainty: “I fear we’re losing real ground to our enemy.”

Suffused with rage, she then documents the history of her world in vivid detail that readers will find engrossing and realistic.

Librarians and readers seeking a story of ancient history come to life will find Enheduanna’s Song from the Sands rich with detail, personalized by the protagonist’s reflections as she steps into her power and makes difficult choices.

Filled with dramatic action and confrontations with self as well as the outside world, Enheduanna’s Song from the Sands will appeal both to leisure readers and scholarly students of ancient times. The former will appreciate the high drama and personal touches; the latter the footnotes and references which cement events and fantasy in a layer of real history.

An important footnote by the author clarifies why this novel should be in any serious collection of women’s history, as well as in fantasy and historical fiction holdings:

I stumbled across Enheduanna while researching Sargon the Great. No one I knew, including poets, had ever heard of her or her hymns. When I began to uncover what was more broadly known about Enheduanna, it astounded me that the first-named author in history was not only a virtual unknown, but a woman who lived in a male-dominated culture.”

~ Diane Donovan Midwest Review on recommended reading list