Indeed this is the nub of the enchantment: while we admire Atara, we feel for all of them, almost becoming part of the family. There is an autobiographical character but Atara's not held up as any better or worse than any of the others. The responsibility to prevent his loved-ones from straying is therefore immense, explaining his attitude and his actions. Non-adherence can lead to a taint for up to 10 generations, causing unthinkable Earthly reverberations as well as the perceived celestial knock-on effects of separation from God. Through him we see the fear that imprisons the Torah's enforcer as much as the strictures of faith imprisoning his family.

Our subtle lesson in empathy starts with patriarch Zalman. In the process she's written one of the most culturally fascinating, sensitive books I've ever read.

As she writes of a community subsuming their humanity to become purer for God, Anouk encourages understanding rather than disdain. So are we to expect a fictionalised misery memoir or thinly-disguised literary therapy? Not a bit of it. She became 'forbidden' a state that she uses in the title of her powerful debut novel, exploring the fundamentalist world from which she fled. At the age of 18 she was sent to America to fulfil the marriage her parents had arranged for her but escaped on arrival, erasing her existence from family's and community's memories in accordance with the penalty as written. This is the story of Zalman, Josef, their descendants their struggles, their beliefs the cost of escape and the cost of remaining.įrench-born/American-based author Anouk Markovits grew up in a similar family to that of her characters, each waking moment and each step of her future being ruled by strict adherence to the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Meanwhile, not too far away, one moment 5 year old Josef Lichtenstein is playing with his baby sister, the next his childhood is deleted by the same bigotry and blood that deletes her. Young Zalman Stern is stopped by soldiers and for a moment he feels this is his last moment on Earth. The date is 1939 and the place is what we know as Romania and Hungary. The New Yorker says Stunning while I'm just stunned. Summary: A novel tracing a Hassidic Jewish family across Europe between 19, demanding to be read.

I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits