The Weight of Ink by Rachel KadishMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the mid-seventeenth century Jews were first allowed back into England after 350 years, the philosopher Spinoza was formulating daring new ideas in Amsterdam, and the false messiah Shabbetai Zvi was electrifying Jewish communities across Europe. Rachel Kadish explores this vital era in her National Jewish Book Award winner The Weight of Ink.
The novel begins in England in the year 2000, when Professor Helen Watts is asked to examine some papers found behind a hidden panel in an old manor house. Due to health issues, she reluctantly accepts the help of American graduate student Aaron Levy, and they embark on a journey of discovery. In alternating chapters, the story of a passionate, brilliant woman, fighting the suppression of her desire for knowledge, is told as it happens and as the researchers discover it. Ester Velasquez; the rabbi she for whom she acts as a scribe, blinded by the Inquisition in Portugal; their Polish servant; and the many people they encounter in 1660s London are brought vividly to life by Kadish’s writing.
In the present, as well, the crusty, aging professor and the brash, cocky student, antagonistic toward each other at first, gradually come to a deeper understanding of themselves and form a true friendship, and while the ending is sad to some extent, a sort of justice is done, both for Helen Watts and for Ester Velasquez.
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