I have never come across a historical fiction novel dealing with the Tower of Babel, so when I found this book on Netgalley by chance I was keen to review it. Historical fiction adds the heart and soul into what can otherwise remain simply names and events, and as a homeschooling mum, I’m always on the lookout for books that do this well.

Of One Tongue has many things going for it: It adheres unashamedly to the Biblical account; it is full of historical details based on research into this period from outside of the evolutionary paradigm; and it is centred around a character the reader can become emotionally invested in. Unfortunately, I felt the writing was not quite of the same quality as the content.

The maxim “Show, don’t tell” is generally great advice for any writer, but there were times in this novel where I thought showing didn’t work to the book’s advantage. There is a fair amount of travelling in the central part of this novel, as Nabella sets off behind her father and brother-in-law to find Shem, and there were times when this ‘showing’ dragged on a little. And one of my pet hates – showing nervousness or hesitation by making the character stutter (I have honestly never seen someone do that in real life) – made me cringe several times, as did the tendency to write “Ah-h-h!” when a character screams.

The writing was a little rough around the edges in general. For example, there were some strangely constructed sentences: “Influential family leaders, of whom Cush belonged, were selected to run the organization.” There were times when the author used the point of view character’s thoughts to tell, rather than showing what the character saw and allowing the reader to observe for themselves; for example, Cush notes that Nimrod has a strong presence. But instead of showing us this, the author simply has the character think, “Nimrod has changed. He has confidence...and he’s not even out of breath.” I won't give an exhaustive list, but this gives a sense of what I am talking about. Individually they were all little things – many of them editorial in nature – but collectively, they contributed to an overall feeling that the writing could have done with more polishing.

Just as a little aside, for those who care to note such things, there was one scene where a tanniyn (dinosaur) is killed that got a little too gory for my taste, and another description of a dead animal that was a bit gruesome.

All things considered, for those who want a historical novel dealing with this period, then this is probably worth a read. The author has even provided some information on some of the historical details at the end of the book. On a purely literary level, however, it could have used a little more refining.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.