The Red Tent

Anita Diamant is a Jewish American author known for her widely read columns, award-winning journalism, bestselling novels, and nonfiction books—many of which are guides to contemporary Jewish life. Diamant was born in New York and grew up in New Jersey and Colorado. She earned degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Binghamton University in New York, and began her journalism career in Boston.

The Red Tent (1997) was Diamant’s debut novel, and it had a relatively quiet release. However, it gained traction among religious groups. Readers took interest in Diamant’s retelling of a biblical tragedy—especially its focus on a woman’s challenges and triumphs. The novel gained attention and, two years after its release, qualified for the New York Times bestseller list.

Diamant followed The Red Tent with Good Harbor (2001), a work of contemporary fiction telling the story of two women in Massachusetts, Kathleen and Joyce, who befriend and support each other through illness and other challenges. In The Last Days of Dogtown (2005), Diamant returned to historical fiction, imagining the struggle of survivors in a small settlement in Cape Ann in the early 1800s. Her next novel, Day After Night (2010), describes how four Jewish women rescued from an internment camp in October 1945 travel to Israel and establish new lives, leaning on one another for support.