Delilah

Delilah is a woman in the biblical Book of Judges whose story is inseparable from the downfall of Samson. The Philistine rulers bribe her to discover the source of Samson’s extraordinary strength, and after repeated attempts she persuades him to reveal the secret connected with his uncut hair.

Her betrayal allows the Philistines to capture, blind and imprison him. Delilah is the woman in the Book of Judges who is paid by Philistine rulers to discover the source of Samson’s strength.

Angela Hunt’s Delilah reimagines the woman from Judges as someone shaped by abandonment, exploitation and a determination to secure the wealth and independence men have denied her. Her relationship with Samson grows from genuine attraction as well as calculation, while Philistine rulers offer material security in exchange for the secret of his strength. By supplying motives the biblical narrative leaves unstated, the novel turns Delilah’s betrayal into the tragic result of competing desires for power, safety and intimacy rather than a single act of seduction.