The earliest writer known to history by name was a woman. Her name was Enheduanna, and this is her story.

Set in Mesopotamia in the 23rd century BCE, Unprecedented is told in Enheduanna’s own voice as she looks back on her life in a private reminiscence to Inanna, her patron goddess. After her father forces the young princess to leave home to be High Priestess in a strange city, she gradually comes to excel in the role, guided by supporters and anchored by faith. Over the next twenty-five years, Enheduanna survives plots, vendettas and rebellions and lives to see her two brothers and nephew become kings. When the stability of her family’s empire is threatened, she develops an ambitious and unique project, using poetry to unite the people of Mesopotamia. But her greatest work is produced in the darkest hour of her life, when an enemy takes away everything she has.