Judah the Pious
A Novel
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Winner of the National Jewish Book Award: A novel of a Polish king and a rebellious rabbi, "full of sudden delights and mocking humor" (The New York Times).
The rabbi is reduced to laughter at the sight of the king, for the country's ruler is but a boy--and Rabbi Eliezer knows how to speak to youngsters. They make a bet: If the rabbi can convince him that there is more to the universe than meets the eye, the funeral rite will be restored. To make his case, Eliezer launches into the story of Judah ben Simon, a tale of such majesty and wonder that it promises to make a dreamer out of all who hear it, changing them forevermore.
Judah the Pious is a lively, early novel set in seventeenth-century Poland by one of today's most accomplished writers, a National Book Award finalist and the New York Times-bestselling author of Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932; A Changed Man; and Reading Like a Writer.
The Polish monarch has outlawed a portion of the Jewish funeral rite, and none of the community's lawyers, judges, or scholars will come forward to defend the custom before the crown. Only one man dares challenge the sovereign: the spindly old Rabbi Eliezer of Rimanov, whose eccentric habits conceal the mind of a dreamer and the curiosity of a child.
The rabbi is reduced to laughter at the sight of the king, for the country's ruler is but a boy--and Rabbi Eliezer knows how to speak to youngsters. They make a bet: If the rabbi can convince him that there is more to the universe than meets the eye, the funeral rite will be restored. To make his case, Eliezer launches into the story of Judah ben Simon, a tale of such majesty and wonder that it promises to make a dreamer out of all who hear it, changing them forevermore.
Judah the Pious is a lively, early novel set in seventeenth-century Poland by one of today's most accomplished writers, a National Book Award finalist and the New York Times-bestselling author of Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932; A Changed Man; and Reading Like a Writer.
About this Author
Francine Prose is the author of sixteen novels, including A Changed Man, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel, a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. A former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Prose is a highly regarded critic and essayist, and has taught literature and writing for more than twenty years at major universities. She is a distinguished writer in residence at Bard College, and she lives in New York City.
Reviews
"Judah the Pious astounds." --The New York Times
"One of our finest writers." --Larry McMurtry
"Prose is superb." --Orlando Sentinel
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