Falmouth Jewish Congregation will host a talk on Tuesday, October 17, at 7 PM by author Rachel Kadish, who will discuss her latest novel, “The Weight of Ink.”
The talk, which is open to the public, will be held at the congregation’s Blanche and Joel D. Seifer Community Center at 7 Hatchville Road in East Falmouth.
This event, like two others this fall, is part of the congregation’s participation in the Jewish Book Council’s Author Network, which brings authors to communities for talks and book sales/signings.
“The Weight of Ink” has been described as an intellectual and emotional jigsaw puzzle of a novel for readers of A.S. Byatt’s “Possession” and Geraldine Brooks’s “People of the Book.”
Set in the London of both the 1660s and the early 21st century, the novel relates the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an immigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history.
As the novel opens, Helen has been summoned by a former student to view a cache of 17th-century Jewish documents newly discovered in his home during a renovation. Enlisting the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is charming, and in a race with another fast-moving team of historians, Helen embarks on one last project: to determine the identity of the documents’ scribe, the elusive Aleph.
Weighty explorations of what it is to be Jewish and to enter interfaith relationships in multiple time periods are integral to each of these stories. Is there merit to keeping within the tribe? Are there, regardless of time, place, or commitment, bridges that those who would willingly enter the Jewish community from the outside can never truly cross? Crucially, what does it mean to choose survival over martyrdom? These questions play out in the characters’ personal lives concurrently with Ester’s philosophical forays into the nature of God.
“The Weight of Ink” is a sophisticated work of historical fiction about women separated by centuries, and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind.
Ms. Kadish is the award-winning author of novels “From a Sealed Room” and “Tolstoy Lied: a Love Story,” as well as the novella “I Was Here.” Her work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times, Ploughshares, and Tin House, and has been anthologized in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and elsewhere.
She has been a fiction fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, has received the John Gardner Fiction Award and the Koret Foundation’s Young Writer on Jewish Themes Award, and was a writer-in-residence at Stanford University. She teaches in Lesley University’s MFA program in creative writing.
The Jewish Book Council has a website with discussion guides, book reviews, and more, at www.jewishbookcouncil.org.
Reservations are not required. Falmouth Jewish Congregation Community is an inclusive, egalitarian Reform congregation serving the Upper Cape and beyond, is accessible and welcoming to all.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.