Fille de Jephté

A modern classic of Jewish-American literature, a remarkable journey into the

shrouded world of Chassidic women. Naomi Ragen's first novel has been called

"one of the too most important Jewish books." Abraham Ha-Levi is a wealthy

American businessman and the last male survivor of an important Orthodox

Jewish family. He decides it's time he finally honored his religious and

cultural inheritance and so forces his 18-year old daughter--the beautiful and

intelligent Batsheva--into an arranged marriage. Her new husband is a devout

Torah scholar who lives in Jerusalem. Batsheva finds herself plunged into a

new life and a strange land, among people who follow their religious laws to

the letter. Then she realizes that her husband's piety is merely a mask for

his cruelty. A magnificent book that builds up momentum compellingly.