Jerusalem Maiden

Jerusalem Maiden

A Novel

Talia Carner

In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a young Orthodox Jewish woman in the holy city of Jerusalem is expected to marry and produce many sons to help hasten the Messiah's arrival. While the feisty Esther Kaminsky understands her obligations, her artistic talent inspires her to secretly explore worlds outside her religion, to dream of studying in Paris—and to believe that God has a special destiny for her.

When tragedy strikes her family, Esther views it as a warning from an angry God and suppresses her desires in order to become an obedient "Jerusalem maiden." But when a surprising opportunity forces itself on to her preordained path, Esther finds her beliefs clashing dangerously with the passions she has staved off her entire life—forcing her to confront the most difficult and damning question of all: To whom must she be true, God or herself?

Jerusalem Maiden brilliantly evokes the sights and sounds of the Middle East during the final days of the Ottoman Empire. Historical fiction and Bible lovers will be captivated by this thrilling tale of a young Jewish woman during a fascinating era, her inner struggle with breaking the Second Commandment, and her ultimate transcendence through self-discovery.

“Talia Carner uses beautiful language, exquisite storytelling, and detailed research to transport the reader into the world of old Jerusalem . . . This is a book to savor and discuss.” —Jewish Book World
“A tale spun by a natural storyteller...what is striking is the timelessness and dreamlike quality of her worlds. We are drawn into the saga of Esther kaminsky, the Jerusalem maiden, and stay under her story’s spell until the ambiguously happy end.” —Hassadah Magazine
“Jerusalem Maiden won me over from the first moment I began reading it...meticulously researched, and steeped in thorough knowledge, no less than deep understanding, of both this community and of the world of art in Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century... I could not put it down.” —Eva Etzioni-Halevy, author of The Triumph of Deborah, The Song of Hannah and The Garden of Ruth
“Jerusalem Maiden is a page-turning and thought-provoking novel. Extraordinary sensory detail vividly conjures another time and place; heroine Esther Kaminsky’s poignant struggle transcends time and place. The ultimate revelation here: for many women, if not most, 2011 is no different than 1911, but triumph is nonetheless possible.” —Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route
“Exquisitely told, with details so vivid you can almost taste the food and hear the voices…. A moving and utterly captivating novel that I will be thinking about for a long, long time.” —Tess Gerritsen, author of The Silent Girl
“Talia Carner’s story captivates at every level, heart and mind.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

About the Author

Born in Israel, Talia Carner served in the Israel Defense Force and now lives in the United States. Her novels draw on Jewish history, especially the lives of women who are rarely seen in the historical record. Jerusalem Maiden follows a young ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman in early-1900s Jerusalem, and it grew out of her research into her own family’s ten-generation history in Jerusalem. The Third Daughter looks at the sex trafficking of Jewish girls from Eastern Europe to the Americas around the turn of the twentieth century. This is a painful chapter of Jewish history that Carner has described as hard to expose but impossible to leave untold. Her most recent novel, The Boy with the Star Tattoo, is a historical novel set in France, published by HarperCollins in January 2024.

The Third Daughter and The Boy with the Star Tattoo were both named Finalists by the Jewish Book Council in the Book Club category. In 2023, Algemeiner named Carner one of the Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life. Before turning to fiction, she was publisher of Savvy Woman magazine, and she is a longtime board member of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, the research center for Jewish women’s life and culture at Brandeis University. She has given hundreds of talks to Jewish and civic audiences about the social issues behind her fiction.

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