And how surprising that is, today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to read historical fiction all the time! Until the genre boiled itself down to garbage like "The Other Boleyn Girl," and that ilk!
When I picked up Rachel Kadish's "The Weight Of Ink," in a local bookstore, I was intrigued. Literary scholarship, comparisons to A. S. Byatt's "Possession," and the promise of the greatest depiction of the London Fire of 1666, since "Forever Amber, " well, this was just what I was looking for.
It is a very intense, and dense exploration of Jewish history, both in 16th Century London, and the present. Ester, who wants to be a scholar in a time when women were forbidden, is a formidable, powerful heroine, who takes a stand, even marrying against love, but more for the satisfaction of scholarship, is a perfect match for Helen Watt, the acidulous scholar,
(I can just picture Judi Dench, in this role!) who clashes with young, brash and arrogant Aaron Levy, who works with her as an archival assistant, unearthing documents which may or not may not have been from Ester's time.
All of academia is on display--the two spinsters named Patricia, one an archivist, the other a librarian, whose goodness and humanity come through near the end. Helen, while persnickety, is struggling with a horrible secret revealed all too clearly toward the end of the novel, and providing its most tragic aspect.
As the reader discovers, with Helen and Aaron, insights into Ester and her time, he, or she, becomes drawn in more. And though the book could have benefited by being, maybe just 100 pages shorter, I would not leave it for a second, until the very last page was read.
It is so hard, these days, to find good historical fiction. Look no more! "The Weight Of Ink" is here, and I urge you girls to read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is stimulating historical and narrative fiction. A rarity in today's times.
I mean, take a break from Nancy Drew, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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