Virago signs Robinson’s ‘dramatic’ new reading of the Book of Genesis

Virago has acquired award-winning novelist and non-fiction writer Marilynne Robinson’s “brilliant, dramatic” new reading of the first book of the bible, Reading Genesis.

Lennie Goodings, chair of Virago, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Ellen Levine at Trident and Virago will publish in March 2024 at the same time as Farrar Straus Giroux in America. Reading Genesis will also include the entirety of the Book of Genesis.

The publisher says: “For generations, the Book of Genesis has been treated by scholars as a collection written by various hands, provoking questions about coherency and borrowings from other ancient literatures. Meanwhile, fundamentalist interpretation has centred on the question of the appropriateness of reading it as literally true.

“Marilynne Robinson’s approach is different; she writes with a deep appreciation of the Book of Genesis’ magnificence as literature; its rich articulation and the exploration of themes that resonate through the whole of Scripture. She illuminates the stories of, among others, Adam and Eve; Noah and his ark; the rivalry of Cain and Abel and the father and son drama of Abraham and Isaac, to consider the profound meanings and promise of God’s enduring covenant with humankind.”

Goodings said: “We know of Marilynne’s wisdom and deep humanity through her novels, especially the Gilead quartet. Every new book of hers encourages us to think again and this book makes us see Genesis as one of the great works of literature.

“Through Marilynne Robinson’s generous eyes, we read Genesis anew. It is true to the spirit of what she said when she received the National Humanities Medal: ‘The question always is, how can I know what I need to know, how well can I trust what I seem to know, how well can I articulate what […] needs to be said?’"