About this item
Highlights
- "An old-fashioned book, free of cynicism, encroaching technology and intricate plotting, but imbued with a heartfelt and optimistic view of humanity--in other words, a book filled with feeling and moral values.
- Author(s): A B Yehoshua
- 208 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Jewish
Description
About the Book
"Rachele Luzzato is twelve years old when she learns her father is gravely ill. While her family plans for her upcoming Bat-Mitzvah, Rachele finds herself cast as the Madonna in her school's Christmas play. Caught between spiritual poles, struggling to cope with her father's mortality, Rachele feels as if the threads of her everyday life are unravelling. A diverse circle of adults are there to guide young Rachele as she faces the difficult passing of childhood, including her charismatic Jewish grandfather, her maternal Catholic grandparents, and even an old teacher who believes the young girl might find solace in a nineteenth-century novel. These spiritual tributaries ultimately converge in Rachele's imagination, creating a fantasy that transcends the microcosm of her daily life with one simple hope: an end to the loneliness felt by an only daughter. In this wondrous story that combines the piercing wisdom of Nicole Krauss's The History of Love, the poignancy of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend; and the magical flight of Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, A. B. Yehoshua paints a warm and subtle portrait of a young girl at the cusp of her journey into adulthood."--Book Synopsis
"An old-fashioned book, free of cynicism, encroaching technology and intricate plotting, but imbued with a heartfelt and optimistic view of humanity--in other words, a book filled with feeling and moral values."--New York Times Book Review
From the internationally acclaimed, award-winning Israeli author, a stunning novel that brilliantly illuminates a young girl's crisis of faith and coming-of-age in Italy.
Rachele Luzzato is twelve years old when she learns that her father is gravely ill. While her family plans for her upcoming bat mitzvah, Rachele finds herself cast as the Madonna in her school's Christmas play. Caught between spiritual poles, struggling to cope with her father's mortality, Rachele feels as if the threads of her everyday life are unraveling.
A diverse circle of adults is there to guide Rachele as she faces the difficult passing of childhood, including her charismatic Jewish grandfather, her maternal Catholic grandparents, and even an old teacher who believes the young girl might find solace in a nineteenth-century novel. These spiritual tributaries ultimately converge in Rachele's imagination, creating a fantasy that transcends the microcosm of her daily life with one simple hope: an end to the loneliness felt by an only daughter.
In this wondrous story A. B. Yehoshua paints a warm and subtle portrait of a young girl at the cusp of her journey into adulthood.
Review Quotes
"An old-fashioned book, free of cynicism, encroaching technology and intricate plotting, but imbued with a heartfelt and optimistic view of humanity -- in other words, a book filled with feeling and moral values." -- New York Times Book Review
"A wise, masterfully understated work by one of Israel's towering literary figures." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"One of Israel's world-class writers." -- Saul Bellow
"[Yehoshua is] an Israeli Faulkner." -- Harold Bloom, The New York Times
"The Only Daughter is an act of gentle love, full of generosity." -- Tuttolibri
"We all need them --brothers and sisters and writers who speak to us as if they were our older brothers (and sisters)-- A.B. Yehoshua is one." -- La Repubblica
"Yehoshua knows how to probe the human soul through characters who peek out from the pages at us all, as if to say, 'Hey, watch out it's about you, too.'" -- Doppiozero