This book is one of the most touching stories I have ever read. The heroin Dina although not a complex person was truly believable. This is a classic story of redemption told like a modern parable. I have now lent this book to so many people that my copy is worn out and I always have trouble getting it back. Personaly I think the publisher did not do a great job of marketing it or it would have been on the best sellers list for over a year which is the average time it takes for me to get it away from whomever I have lent it to. I am now desperatly trying to find a hard copy for myself. It will not be lent out by the way.

"Sotah" is one of the best novels I have ever read. It showed how different life is for the haradi men and women in Israel and the Jews in America. The difference in their behavior towards spouses, parents, children, the environment, how in the haradi world is like a protected shell, etc. It was a very strong book. The story was so sad how Dina was proclaimed a Sotah, which was a lie. She lost her husband, child, family and self-respect. This is a novel that is definatly worth reading. There are many things to learn from it.

Although this was mostly Dinah's story, it's easy to learn about the lives and choices (at least where a husband is concerned) of orthodox girls from all three sisters - Devorah, who has to marry a very unatractive (physically) man, and then learns how good he really his, Dinah, how follows the rules all the way, even when she has done no wrong, and knows it but follows anyhow, and Leah, who decides to take her fate into her own hands and succeeds. I think that the best lesson dinah, her family and us learn from this book is not following blindly, but checking things by ourselves before "jusmping in", because sometimes the majority can err, too!

I agree with another reviewer here about how the storyline andcharacters for this novel are just utterly preposterous! If theprotagonist of the novel really was an ultra-Orthodox Jew, nothingthat was expected of her after marriage would have been a surprise.

The husband is originally portrayed as a sympathetic character but almost immediately becomes a caricature. He starts beating his wife and torturing her. Her parents don't give a hoot when she calls them to tell them that her husband is abusing her. Supposedly their lives revolved around her before she married. All of a sudden, they stopped caring. Real people just aren't like that.

While the writing style was engaging, I finished this book merely for the entertainment value. The plot twists were so outrageous that they were quite amusing.

a friend lent me this book, i picked it up ad couldnt put it doen i was up the whole night reading its worth every penny i have read it so many times over its such a special book. i must therefore strongly disagree with the last two reviews. yes indeed some of the story may be almost impossible to understand, how can parents not listen to such a cry for help? how can a man change so suddenly or be so cruel? how can she not realise such basic things he duties? naomi ragen has given us the answer unfortunately the world is not sugar coated and no one is perfect. i think she made her characters all seem very understandable, the parents, - their expectations made them overlook the situation some people live in denial its their way its sad, it seems unrealsitic but it unfortunately does happen - ms ragen is simply opening our eyes to this. as for the husband - it is a common known fact that what is on the outside is not always on the inside from the start ragen introduced the character as somewhat ignorant to what a woman is and this is why he became what he was. the sages say that the lust for honour will bring a persons downfall is this not demonstrated so carefully by the author? finally Batsheva shows naivety yet she acts with such courage and wisdom, she made her mistakes - she was 18!...
im sorry to have been so defensive and critical of the two previous editorials but this is my favourite book, it taught me alot about people and alot about the world and that naivety wont get anyone anywhere. its sad but true things like this do happen and people dont always deal with it the way you expect them or want them to.
congratulations on this book - it was truely an absolutely fantastic work. i highly highly reccomend it.

These situations that BatSheva HaLevi went through were very sad. This book explains the exceptions that go on within Jewish families and are very real. Although her story is not the norm, I think it was good of Naomi Ragen to write about things that go on behind closed doors.
Smooth reading and very enjoyable.

"The Ghost of Hannah Mendes" by Naomi Ragen is a gripping and moving novel, I found it fascinating, and enlightening. I loved the meld of present day and historical characters, I was gripped by the story, and my only complaint was that it ended too soon, and I was so interested in the historical sections, that I started reading some of the Jewish history books on that period on Spanish-Jewish history, I would recommend it to all who love a good story, and especially those who are interested in Jewish history.

Naomi Ragen's "The Ghost of Hannah Mendes" is a good story, told superbly. Ragen gives us a look into the Spain of 500 years ago that most of us only read about in dry history texts. She gives the characters life and color, and she takes us to the settings with a delightful mixture of sophistication, erudition and plain great storytelling. I grinned a lot during some of the modern sections, too. Who wouldn't want to type out the kind of message that one of the granddaughters writes at the end, partially in capital letters? Oh, you want to know what I'm talking about? Read the book!

At seventy-four years old, widow Catherine da Costa learns she is dying from her doctor. As she wanders around Central Park, Catherine begins to wonder who should inherit her vast wealth that her deceased grandfather, late father, and her husband had accumulated and left to her. Her daughter and son-in-law would use the money to show off their wealth. Her granddaughter Suzanne would give it away. Her other granddaughter Fransesca would probably double its value. None of them would enjoy it.

In utter despair that the family heritage will die with her, Catherine receives a visitor in her sleep. A sixteenth century ancestor, Hannah Mendes will work with Catherine to help Fransesca and Suzanne find their lost heritage. Out of respect for their grandmother's last wishes, the two sisters travel to Europe in search of Hannah's manuscript. Soon, they meet appropriate males and Hannah begins to educate them as her story unfolds.

The two story lines (contemporary and Renaissance) blend brilliantly together due to the strong writing ability of Naomi Ragen. The characters are all realistic; they question how Jewish assimilation into the Big Mac culture of America is dealt with through various eyes. Readers will especially enjoy the sixteenth century manuscript as that story is incredible and feels like a real artifact. Anyone interested in well-written novels starring Jewish culture needs to try Ms. Ragen's works (see THE SACRIFICE OF TAMAR, SOTAH and JEPHTE'S DAUGHTER) because they are fabulous, insightful tales.

Harriet Klausner

I read "The Sacrifice of Tamar," by author Naomi Ragen, after reading her first and second novels, "Sotah," and "Jephte's Daughter." Ms. Ragen's voice and style show significant growth with each new book. Her characters and their responses to crises are much more complex, and less predictable in each successive novel.

I found "Sacrifice" a compelling story, set as it is against a cultural backdrop rarely accessible to non-Haredi Jews. However, I was very disappointed with one aspect of "Sacrifice." In it Ms. Ragen positions blackness as an inherently flawed, deficient human condition. And she writes as if this were a universally acknowledged fact.

I have no problem with Ms. Ragen using a black rapist as a plot device; it's certainly plausible that a woman attacked by a black rapist could project her hatred onto all black people. Not admirable, but understandable.

But that, as the story line goes, one's blackness should be sufficient grounds on which to be found repulsive, disgraceful, and utterly lacking in human value ... Well, that's another thing. (...)

I'm reluctant to brand Ms. Ragen a racist -- she has proven herself a champion of justice and human dignity in other arenas -- but the premise of this particular novel is pretty nefarious.

(...)

Enjoyed Ragen's look into the orthodox Jewish world and the conflicts which are created as those on the inside try to live in our 20th century. Very compelling story, read it one evening. Felt that some of the story telling was forced (when Jenny and the other girl tell Tamar what happened after their excursion the Greenwich), sort of a 'would you like to know what happened, well let me tell you.... Like Chiam Potok does in his books, Ragen shows the joy that devoutness can bring to life.

The "Sacrifice of Tamar, not unlike the author's other two books, "Sotah" and "Jepthie's Daughter" takes place in an insular ultra-othrdox community. "Sacrifice of Tamar" centers mainly in Brooklyn and later moves to Isreal. In the opening chapters Tamar is raped by a blackman and later, the same night, has sex with her own husband. She becomes pregnant and is very concerend that the child may be the rapist's. (She keeps the attack a secret from all but her two closest freinds.) Later she is relieved when the baby born to her, a boy, is white. There's is suffuicient foreshadowing to predict some of what that might occur in years to come when her own son marries and his wife is pregnant with his child. Her characters in this book, Hadassah, Jenny and the Klovitzer Rebbie are believeable and likeable characters. Ragen writes with such authority it's almost as though she has witnessed much of what occurs in her books as good writers write from experience. The books is out of print and her other two novels are difficult to find in my library system owing to their popularity and not ther scarcity. Having read all three in recent weeks I am looking forward to her 4th, due very soon. Another book, "Romance Reader," by Pearl Abraham is also about insular Orthodox communites. Although not very well writen it too is worth searching out in your library.

I've read other books by this author and couldn't even finish this one. It was an extremely depressing story and there was far too much philosophical mumble-jumble. Read her other books instead.

I typically love Naomi Ragen's book, but this one left a lot to be desired. I believe that she felt that she needed to write a book and this is the first thing that came out of her pen.

While the first half of the book is the story of Dave, the husband, the second half is the story of no one. Depsite the fact that the back of the book leads you to believe it is about the daughter, Sara, she is not the main character in any sense.

There is no story for you to follow and the characters don't develop well. Their characteristics just sort of "appear."

The Jewish thread seems manufactured as if she had to insert it somewhere.

If you want to read a bood Naomi Ragen book, read ANY of the others.

Naomi Ragen's four previous novels dealt with Orthodox Jews and their personal problems and struggles. These novels were intensely human, very frank and controversial. In a departure from these themes, Ragen's new novel, "Chains Around the Grass," focuses on the unfortunate Markowitz family and their myriad personal problems.

The time is the 1950's and David Markowitz, husband of Ruth, and father of three children, is again forcing the family to move, for the fourth time in ten years. He is a dreamer who thinks that one day he will strike it rich, and his family will then have the life that they deserve. For the time being, however, the Markowitz family is moving into a low-income housing project in Far Rockaway, Queens, while David plies his trade as a taxicab driver.

"Chains Around the Grass" does not succeed, mostly because Ragen has no central focus beyond describing the family's miserable lives. She touches on many themes, but they do not coalesce into a satisfying whole. Ruth Markowitz stays at home with the children, as was traditional in the pre-feminist fifties, although she has few domestic skills. Her considerable brains and talent are underutilized, which contributes to her depression and keeps the family income low. David is a charming but unstable man. He fights with his relatives who are better off than he, and he is simply unable to work at a steady job long enough to make good. None of these themes has enough resonance to make the novel come alive.

The book does have its poignant moments, especially those that center around the middle-child, Sarah. She is an excellent student, who believes that school and perhaps religion will be her ticket out of her dead-end existence. However, Ragen does not show us what is unique about this family and why their story is worth telling. "Chains Around the Grass" is little more than a very bleak story about a very unhappy family.