Product Description

Jessica, the 16-year old daughter of miserly pawnbroker Shylock, feels trapped by the endless rules of the 16th-century Venetian ghetto, until she falls for Lorenzo, a handsome and charming aristocrat. But it is a doomed passion - for Jessica is a Jew and Lorenzo a Christian.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #566257 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-12
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

The Historical Novels Review, February 2002
A multi-levelled story of considerable interest.

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly Moving and Colourful Book
I am 13 years old and greatly enjoyed this book. It envelops you and takes you to Venice where the story is set. This book will make you laugh and cry because it is so utterly moving. Buy it.

The source is libelous though the story is a tear jerker
Shakespeare's Jessica is not as she is understood to be by the mundane public. She is made to be ashamed, not by his father's undisclosed values, but by the sin of crucifixion that Jews were made to inherit until Vatican II. The true story of Jessica is not a basis for this book. If she would have married a Christian there would have been no reason for the couple to leave Venice. Civil and religious institutions would have protected them. Shylock would have had to defend his position and not they, theirs. Nor would he have prevailed. Further he had cautioned Jessica to lock the door 'behind' her, when she was to leave the parental home - with his blessings, like Rachel, daughter of the mentioned Laban, to a land of refuge, away from the inquisition. There is much more - but my conclusion is that though there may be a daughter living under oppression who will elope to escape, the need to call such an unfortunate girl Shylock's daughter is misleading and perpetuates a shameful and even disasterous libel. It maintains the stereotype saying: 'the daughter for conversion the father for the flames'. Shakespeare never wanted his purposeful absurdities to be instilled forever.