Brooklyn BookBeat: Talmud scholar to speak at Park Slope Jewish Center
Maggie Anton, acclaimed author of the “Rashi’s Daughters” series, is coming to Park Slope Jewish Center on April 21 to discuss her book “Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Book I: Apprentice” (Plume Original). In this novel that blends third-century Babylonian history with elements of magic, Anton’s protagonist, Hisdadukh, comes of age through her intertwinement with ancient sorcery.
Amidst a battle between Rome and Zoroastrian Persia, Babylonia encounters turmoil. After the devastation of Jerusalem’s Holy Temple, Talmudic sage Rav Hisda – Hisdadukh’s father – attempts to assert a new Jewish identity. Hisdadukh sets out to become a charasheta, or enchantress, studying with her brother’s wife, Rahel.
After marrying Rami, one of her father’s best students, Hisdadukh is confronted by Abba, another of her father’s students, who also admires the young woman’s beauty and spirit. When her happiness is thwarted by a sequence of tragic events, Hisdadukh is forced to consider whether her path lies in the way of sorcery.