A reader of numerous medieval versions of the opening chapters of Genesis – especially of the Temptation and Fall of Adam and Eve, the aftermath and the murder of Abel – will encounter features that derive from the Vita Adae et Evae (VAE). Like most apocryphal texts it enjoyed a long and varied history from the eighth century (Ireland?) if not earlier, and it is fair to say that it was the single most important locus and nexus for the circumstances surrounding the lives of the protoplasts, including connections to the inventio crucis tradition. Thus the text typologically bridges the Old and New Testaments, and one can see the effects in poetry, prose, drama and the iconographic tradition across Europe. The VAE is valuable precisely because of what the canon does not tell us about the beginning of human history. Brian Murdoch is the authority on the subject, and this book is the essential guide and plan for future research. Any medievalist who has ever run across references to the Saltair na Rann, various Historienbibeln, or the Junius 11, Vernon or Auchinleck manuscripts (to give just a few important English examples) will greatly benefit from Murdoch's comprehensive examination of the narrative and his meticulous engagement with the bibliography. Here one can find Satan disguised as an angel, angels as midwives, and post-lapsarian penances in static rivers (usually, but not always, the Jordan). These and other noteworthy motifs (the serpent biting Seth in the face [p. 29]; Cain being as bright as a star and drinking Abel's blood [pp. 59–60]) provide a framework to examine the apocryphon's development. The breadth of Murdoch's coverage, from Ireland to Bohemia, is daunting. A chapter on iconography and an appendix outlining some fifty texts containing the legend add to the book's appeal and utility. The index could be more complete. For example, the River Jordan is not listed, and Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Michael, Uriel, Lucifer and Satan are deliberately omitted. Since so many of the elements of the story turn on these figures, that omission is regrettable. Nevertheless, only a medievalist of Murdoch's stature and experience could produce such an authoritative guide. The book provides salutary reminders that the vernacular tradition is often of equal authority to the Latin and that the complexity and sometimes the recalcitrance of the material make definitive answers to questions of source, date and textual affiliation elusive.