Samuel's Daughter

Out of ancient Jewish sources comes a novel of love and self-discovery in the heart of the ancient Parthian empire. The year is 259 A.D. and the three daughters of Rabbi Samuel, the greatest Jewish scholar of his day, are taken captive during the fall of Nehardea, a thriving merchant-city on the Euphrates River. Two of the daughters quickly return from captivity and are restored to their family; the third daughter, Rachel, vanishes - only to reappear as the wife of a convert to Judaism and the mother of a noted rabbi. On the basis of these briefest of references from the Babylonian Talmud, first-time novelist and Hebraic scholar Ann Brener creates the portrait of a young woman caught between the demands of two cultures, and a moving love story that crosses the boundaries of lands and religions.