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This essay examines the role of gender in the apocryphal novels of Greek Esther, Susanna, and Judith, by means of comparison with the 1982 Steven Spielberg movie E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. Just as E.T’s E.T-ness – his identity as an alien non-human creature exiled on planet earth – is central to the story of his exile, so too is the femaleness of Esther, Judith and Susanna germane to the stories of exile that their stories recount. The argument is structured around four points: the exilic setting; the role of the “alien”; the phone call, and the message, and will conclude with some reflections on the role of gender in stories about exile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]