Jerusalem Maiden: A Historical Novel of How a Jewish Woman's Art Defies Faith in Early 20th-Century Ottoman Jerusalem

I am a fan of author Talia Carner, having read both of her earlier novels, CHINA DOLL and PUPPET CHILD. I thought that both of those books were brilliant and JERUSALEM MAIDEN is even more so. From prior experience, I know that Ms. Carner's stories are haunting; these stay with the reader for years and years. After those two earlier important works, Ms. Carner has outdone herself in this latest effort. Years ago, the great sagas respectfully were said to cross oceans and spread over decades. In that tradition of the greatest sagas, JERUSALEM MAIDEN does both. The novel's heroine is Esther, a young girl who is born into an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family which has moved (back) to the Holy Land after millennia in the Diaspora. Author Carner does a magnificent job of explaining the Orthodox lifestyle, with its numerous rules governing every aspect of daily life, and its restrictions, which are almost as numerous. Set in turn of the 20th Century Jerusalem, JERUSALEM MAIDEN is a history of how hard life was in that place and time. There were constant attacks by bands of Arab enemies and the very chores of everyday existence, by modern standards, were harshly tedious. Factor in the almost infinite religious requirements and that life was unimaginably difficult. The conflict comes when there is someone -- here, Esther -- who is not blindly accepting of the laws of her faith; who, in fact, has been blessed with a talent which her faith condemns and prohibits. Esther discovers that she is a gifted artist. As such, she would prefer to move beyond her preordained existence as a homemaker (a tough lot in that time and place), wife and mother to follow her passion and study painting. Can Esther reconcile her religion, and the strong obligation she feels for its many tenets, with a career as a fine artist? Carner does a magnificent job of telling this story, of showcasing this important underlying conflict. In the process, she has written a novel that is riveting, informative and touching. Talia Carner has entered the ranks of the greatest Jewish storytellers, along with Sholom Alecheim, Issac Bashevis Singer and Chaim Potok. JERUSALEM MAIDEN deserves to win every writing prize.

I thorougly enjoyed this wonderful novel about a young girl in the ultra orthodox community of haredi Jews at the turn of the century Jerusalem. Talia Camer write very well, and the story includes fabulous painterly descriptions of very primitive living at the turn of the twentieth century when many children died of illness before their fifth birthday and women died in childbirth. The scenes of artistic Paris life, and Jewish life in the Marais are also brilliantly described. Will our heroine Esther find happiness with a demandinGod whose strict rules she tries to fight against? Read this beautifully written novel to find out

Paula E. Hyman, in her scholarly treatment of “Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History: The Roles and Representation of Women,” argues, “Women’s history has altered our understanding of the nature and definition of community among Jews and has revealed hitherto unrecognized complexities in the issue of assimilation. In Talia Carner’s best selling novel “Jerusalem Maiden” Her main character, Esther Kaminsky, goes through her life changing her understanding of community underscoring Hyman’s thesis. As she moves from a little girl to a grown woman and beyond, her perception of Judaism changes as her perception of life changes. In other words, she becomes less religious and more modern, the absolute definition of assimilation. The issue of the religious Jew struggling with modernity, to take part in the world but still hold true to God’s word is a common theme running through Jewish literature for the last 150 years. This, like Carner’s character says more about the Jewish experience in general than it does about any one specific character in a story. Since the beginning of the Haskalah, (Enlightenment) Jews have been forced to make the choice of living in the world and becoming part of it, or living on the side lines and watching it. The examples of this in literature are numerous, Shalom Aleichem’s “Tevye’s Daughters,” better known through the Norman Jewison film, “Fiddler on the Roof,” tells of a father’s dilemma marrying off his daughters colliding tradition with modern living. Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” follows an Hasidic boy who’s genius leads him through god’s hand to leave his community and study the secular world of Freudian psychology. Even a post modern approach of the film, “American Pop,” by Ralph Bakshi uses four generations of American Jews to go from the Hasid, an ear locks bearing immigrant in 1890’s America to a 1980s street tough in New York city making bank through selling drugs and dealing in common street crime. You have to know Bakshi to understand the connection to Jewish culture this has and how this theme plays perfectly into Jewish literature. In each of those examples there’s a defining element which drives the character to move into a more modern, less religious and emancipated life. For Carner, she uses the fine art of painting on canvas to drive her character. Esther rethinks every belief she had known growing up to find her place in the world to which she can be comfortable as a modern human being while still searching and finding grace in her own Jewish identity. All the while, she follows the natural urges to paint, to love, and to live in the world of 1920’s Europe. Esther ends up a million light years away from Mea Shararim, her community where she grew up, nestled away in the winding serpentine streets and alley ways of early 20th century Jerusalem, purposely shut off from the rest of the world while waiting for the Messiah. Esther liberates herself, artistically through her art, sexually through a young French artist who she cannot resist even to the point where she abandon’s her family, divorces her husband and becomes part of the bohemian lifestyle of pre world war II Paris. A fifteen to twenty year transition Esther becomes the woman she knows she has to become. Carner leaves Esther no choice. Her personal freedom must be got, and she knows it. The author does an excellent job juxtaposing the grainy black and white world of an all encompassing, religious existence with the colorful, sexually free, libertine, life in 1920s modern Paris. It was called “Gay Paris” for a reason. Now we have a different definition of that word “Gay” but then it meant happy, fulfilled, and joyous nature for someone of Esther’s spirit with the liberated aspect of one of the great art movements of 1920s western civilization. As a grown woman in Paris, her personality and her zeal to create something that was not God, but man, left her no choice but to regard her upbringing as suffocating, and this world as enlightening. Carner takes us on a journey not only through time but through existential thought running the gambit from one extreme of life to the other. Such a dramatic change might have broken weaker personalities, but Carner’s Esther has her art which she transverses her religious belief and this is what saves her. The end of the book I will not reveal so as to not to spoil it, but it brings together this notion of the Jewish struggle to belong as mentioned earlier with all of its rewards and consequences. Within that struggle lies the strength of the Jewish people to adapt to their surroundings throughout their history. It might be one of the reasons why the Jews have survived and the ancient peoples they were born alongside have long since disappeared. Carner brings this to life in her book. And, that ending—well—read it, and you will understand.

Such an interesting historical novel. I’m learning so much about Jewish customs, and the expectations for, and the struggles of, a young woman under the extreme pressures of religion and the times. Also like learning about the country before it became the Israel of today. It’s extremely well written.

A very strong story, the focus is on one character so you don't loose track of what's going on. I read it three times by now and will read again, writing is fluent and pleasant.

Jerusalem Maiden. Interesting book. Can recommend, especially if you like art and/orParis. About an arranged marriage in the waning days of the Ottoman empire.

The story was compelling,describing a young girl's life in an ultra-orthodox early 20th century Jerusalem home. The struggle to remain true to her upbringing and to fulfill her artistic yearnings was chronicled in a very convincing manner. I would recommend this book.

Amazing book about a determined young girl.