Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible: Flawed Women Loved by a Flawless God »

Liz Curtis Higgs is the author of 26 books, with more than 3 million copies in print, including her best-selling nonfiction series, Bad Girls of the Bible, Really Bad Girls of the Bible, and Unveiling Mary Magdalene, and her Christy Award—winning historical novel, Whence Came a Prince. A columnist for Today’s Christian Woman and an accomplished speaker, Liz makes her home in Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, Bill.

Sarah mistreated her maidservant, Hagar despised her mistress, Rebekah manipulated her son, Leah claimed her sister’s husband, and Rachel envied her fertile sister.

Publishers Weekly

Higgs revisits the well of biblical women for this continuation of her hugely successful Bad Girls of the Bible series. Whereas Bad Girls of the Bibleand Really Bad Girls of the Bibletackled the Jezebels and Salomes, often demonstrating that these women were not as nefarious as later traditions would suggest, this one takes a different tack, looking at five "good girls" of the Bible and finding them seriously flawed. Focusing on Genesis, Higgs looks at Sarah (a control freak), Hagar (who was filled with bitterness), Rebekah (a conniving schemer who played favorites with her sons), Leah (another schemer) and Rachel (who was consumed by jealousy). One theme that emerges clearly is how fertility, or the lack of it, dominated these women's lives in a patriarchal culture. As always, Higgs's tone is chatty and girlfriendish, addressing the reader in the second person as she emphasizes the lesson-and the humor-in each woman's tale. And as always, this one capably blends fictional vignettes of contemporary "bad girls" with in-depth exegesis of their biblical counterparts' stories. Higgs also reveals her own foibles as she weaves personal anecdotes into each chapter, underscoring the book's overall theme: even faithful women can sometimes be hurtful and selfish. (Sept. 16)