The Heavens Before

"...Annah lowered her head, crying silently. But even in her sorrow, she felt reassured. For beneath these new heavens and on this new earth, only the presence of the Most High had not changed. She could actually sense Him; He was as she remembered Him from the earth before..." Excerpt from The Heavens Before It is a time of violence and hatred, lust and greed, justice and destruction. However, one man has found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Annah longs to be a part of his family. God has chosen to take Annah out of the violent environment in which she lives and count her as one of the few that find refuge on the ark. Is it true what Noah says? Will the Most High really destroy all the earth with a great flood? Annah chooses to believe and thus becomes part of the lineage of Christ. The Heavens Before is the retelling of the story of Noah and his ark. Read this book and learn of God's nature of utmost love and complete intolerance for wickedness and sin. You'll be inspired to know Him more personally and you'll come to love Annah with all her faults. Kacy Barnett-Gramckow vividly depicts how life must have been before the Great Flood. She has stayed true to the Scriptural account of the story and at the same time, brought it to life for her readers. The Heavens Before is a beautiful story of redemption and one that should be read.

Annah was only a child when she saw her older brother Yerakh kill their father. Yerakh threatened Annah, warning her not to talk. Afraid she would be killed if she said anything, she remained silent for twenty-five years. After a while her family and the villagers think she can't talk, that she is mindless, less than an animal, a nothing. Then one day Annah met Seth, middle son of Noakh and realized the language of love doesn't require words. Noakh and his family believe in the Most High and for years have been building a huge ark. They also believe one day the Most High will send a flood that will destroy every living thing on earth. The villagers think they are insane. When Shem offers 500 of his finest animals and half of his grain, already threshed, for Annah, Yerakh thinks it is good to be rid of the worthless one. Safe in the lodge of Noakh, cared for by her new family and the beloved of her new husband, Annah speaks again. The old Annah, the worthless one, doesnt exist any more. She is now Annah-who-is-not-Annah in the eyes of her family. They plan to kill her, but before Yerakh can carry out his murderous plan, the earth breaks open, the waters rush in to cover the earth and everything and everyone not in the ark is destroyed, just as the Most High promised. Only Noakh, his wife, his three sons and their wives survive. The Heavens Before is an intriguing story of the way the world was before the Geat Flood. The strongly developed characters come alive on the page and Annah will capture your heart. I finished this book hungry for more and immediately went searching for He Who Lifts the Skies and A Crown in the Stars, books two and three of the Genesis Trilogy. It's a red letter day when I discover a new author and Kacy Barnett Gramckow ranks right up there as one of my favorites.

Annah was once happy, but everything changed after her father was murdered. She watched as her brother, Yerakh, killed him in anger. Now to keep Yerakh from killing her as well, Annah must shroud herself in silence and assumed mindlessness, doing as she is told by a family that hates her. However, in a chance encounter, Annah meets Shem, the son of Noahk, and finds his family is completely different from her own. Instead of the hate and treachery she has known, Shem's family loves each other. When Shem asks for her hand in marriage, she believes she has finally found a safe haven. The Heavens Before was an excellent Flood novel. The believability of the whole story was fascinating. Thoughts on how a preFlood world would be like showed time spent in research of theories and the author's own creativity. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the Genesis Trilogy.

I have almost given up on fiction retellings of Biblical history as very rarely does an author actually stick to what the Bible states on the subject. Therefore, I was tremendously pleased to read a wonderfully written story about Annah's life (pre-Flood and during the Flood) which also faithfully stuck to the Biblically provided information. This author not only is a talented writer, but she put a lot of time, research, and thought into what the pre-Flood world and the ark would have been like. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

It is always an exciting thing for me to find a new author that writes well and can tell a good story. That is exactly what I have found in Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, author of "THE GENESIS TRILOGY - THE HEAVENS BEFORE".This story is about Noah's flood as seen through the eyes of one of his daughters-in-law, Shem's wife, Annah. The story begins with Annah amoungst her own people, in her own village on this side of the river. Her people are violent, self-centered, hateful people who are filled with greed, envy and strife. Annah is hated and mocked by all of them who consider her to be the village idiot because she has not spoken for nearly 25 years; ever since she witnessed the murder of her father when she was but 12 years old. She has found that the only way she can cope with her grief, fear and anger is to let them believe what they will. She avoids the company of everyone as much as possible and spends most of her time down by the riverside where she is soothed by the beauty and tranquility of creation.Finally, though, after years of pent up grief over the loss of her father and the misery inflicted upon her by her people, she decides to fall into the river and allow it to end the futility of her life. But someone on the other side of the river sees her, understands what she is contemplating and is able to wordlessly convince her not to end her own life. This person becomes a point of light in her world of darkness and gives her hope again.One night, as she secretly follows her sister-in-law through the forest to the hovel of the Nachash and her Whisperers (evil, witchy, serpent worshipers), Annah discovers that the Nachash fears only the Most High, convincing her that the legends of the Most High are true after all. She decides that if the Most High is the enemy of the Nachash, then she will believe in and follow Him. As she is discovered and threatened by death, she cries out to the Most High who delivers her from harm and destroys the one out to kill her.Great evil and violence takes the life of her mother and middle brother and she is beaten, nearly to death, by her father's murderer. As soon as she is able, she runs back to the river to find the one who has been so kind to her. When he sees her condition and the danger she is in, he sets out to free her from her abusers and take her to safety. Thus begins her new life on the other side of the river with Noah and his family.Ms. Barnett-Gramckow has a wonder talent for painting marvelous imagery with her words. She captivates you with her literary skill right from the start and never disappoints. She brings life and new perspective to one of the Bible's most famous events and makes you long to read more by the time you are done. I can't wait for the 2nd in this series to come out; I am confident it will be equally as uplifting, insightful and entertaining as this wonderful tale has been. I hope you read this book and enjoy it as much as I have.