Praise, The Weight of Ink
“Rarely have I read a contemporary novel that so immersed me in its world and drew me so deeply into the lives of its characters. Rachel Kadish is a brilliant story-teller, with a mystery writer’s instinct for pacing and a willingness to take on the largest human questions. The Weight of Ink is astonishing.”
—Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice
“A superb and wonderfully imaginative reconstruction of the intellectual life of a Jewish woman in London during the time of the Great Plague.”
—Times Higher Education
“Rachel Kadish’s novel The Weight of Ink is my top Jewish feminist literary pick. Kadish’s novel weaves a web of connections between Ester Velasquez, a Portuguese Jewish female scribe and philosopher living in London in the 1660s, and Helen Watt, a present-day aging historian who’s trying to preserve Ester’s voice even as she revisits her own repressed romantic plot. Both Ester and Helen are part of a long literary line of what writer Rebecca Goldstein has termed ‘mind-proud women.'”
—Lilith, “7 Jewish Feminist Highlights of 2017”
“The Weight of Ink tells of the struggle and the triumph of a woman trying to do justice to the largeness of her intellect and ambition. As audacious in its conception as it is brilliant in its execution.”
—Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away
“So many historical novels play with the ‘across worlds and centuries trope,’ but this one really delivers, tying characters and manuscripts together with deep assurance. A book to get lost in this summer.”
—Bethanne Patrick, LitHub
“A page-turner. Kadish moves back and forth in time (including an excursion to Israel in the 1950s) with great skill. She knows how to generate suspense – and sympathy for her large cast of characters…packed with fascinating details…The Weight of Ink belongs to its women…Kadish’s most impressive achievement, it seems to me, lies in getting readers to think that maybe, just maybe, a woman like Esther could have existed in the Jewish diaspora circa 1660.”
—Jerusalem Post
“An impressive achievement…The book offers a surprisingly taut and gripping storyline…The Weight of Ink has the brains of a scholar, the drive of a sleuth, and the soul of a lover.”
—Historical Novel Society
“Deeply satisfying to anyone who enjoyed Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book…[The Weight of Ink is a] historical epic that transports readers back to the days of Shakespeare, Spinoza and the Great Plague, uncovering some rich details of Jewish life in the 1600s along the way.”
—Jewish World News
“Kadish knows how to create a propulsive plot peopled with distinctive characters. The Weight of Ink has enough mysteries to keep readers turning pages, and a fair amount of thematic and intellectual heft…Rewarding.”
—The Forward
“A mysterious collection of papers hidden in a historic London home sends two scholars of Jewish history on an unforgettable quest….Kadish’s characters are memorable, and we’re treated to a host of them: pious rabbis and ribald actors, socialites and troubled young men, Mossad agents and rule-worshipping archivists. From Shakespeare’s Dark Lady to Spinoza’s philosophical heresies, Kadish leaves no stone unturned in this moving historical epic. Chock-full of rich detail and literary intrigue.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“From its opening pages The Weight of Ink signals its reverence for words, both those from which the narrative is constructed and those which lie at the heart of its story—for this a novel about the importance of words: written and spoken, historical and contemporary, hidden away and brought to light. Rachel Kadish has fashioned a literary mystery spanning centuries, continents and languages; a mystery of great moral stakes and elemental human desires.”
—Leah Hager Cohen, author of No Book but the World
