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michaelmc 's review for:
The Weight of Ink
by Rachel Kadish
Historical fiction as it should be. Esther is a young jewish woman who has escaped from the Inquisition with her family to refuge in 17th century Amsterdam and then London. She has some education and yearns to pursue knowledge but that avenue is closed to women in the 1600s. When she and her brother are orphaned by an accidental fire in Amsterdam a blind rabbi takes them into his improvised household and moves them to London. There Esther becomes becomes the rabbi's scribe when no qualified man is available. Because the rabbi can't see she both reads to him and writes for him. Soon she takes to writing for herself under various assumed names. She lives at the time of the 21st century scholars struggle to discover who she was. This is a great book. Read it!