Talia Carner, author of Jerusalem Maiden, on tour June 2011

About Jerusalem Maiden

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Original edition (May 31, 2011)

“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

Esther Kaminsky knows that her duty is to marry young and produce many sons to help hasten the Messiah’s arrival: that is what expected of young ultra-Orthodox women in Jerusalem at the end of the Ottoman Empire’s rule. But when her French teacher catches Esther’s extraordinary doodling and gives her art lessons, Esther wonders if God has a special destiny for her: maybe she is meant to be an artist, not a mother; maybe she is meant to travel to Paris, not stay in Jerusalem. However, when tragedy strikes her family, Esther sacrifices her yearning for painting and devotes herself instead to following God’s path as an obedient “Jerusalem maiden.”

In the coming years, Esther struggles with God’s decrees while suppressing her desires—until a surprising opportunity forces itself into her pre-ordained path. As her beliefs clash with passions she has staved off her entire life, Esther must confront the hard questions: What is faith? Is there such thing as destiny? And to whom must Esther be true, to God or to herself?

About Talia Carner

Talia Carner is formerly the publisher of Savvy Woman magazine and a lecturer at international women economic forums. Carner’s addictions include chocolate, ballet, hats—and social justice.

Visit Talia at her website, taliacarner.com. You can also friend her on Facebook.