The Ghetto of Venice, 1672. A brother is killed. A truth buried. When faith, freedom and obedience collide, one woman risks everything to remain true to herself and to the brother she loved.
When Yehudit's beloved brother Mordechai is found murdered, her search to know what happened upends her world. In his life, Mordechai—disaffected merchant, outspoken skeptic—secretly defied expectations his family, religion, and the Ghetto community placed on one of their own, and limits imposed by gentile Venice. As Yehudit exposes conflicts that shaped Mordechai's final weeks, she increasingly must challenge restrictions and controls on her life as a woman. Yehudit's determination to find and speak the truth set her on a collision course with her family and the entrenched Ghetto power structure.
Inspired by a true event memorialized in the Venice Ghetto, WHAT WAS FORBIDDEN is set within the backdrop of two historical movements each of which ignited hopes of freedom but in diametrically opposite ways.
"... What Was Forbidden is a masterfully woven tale of love, loss, ideology, and resilience ... a gripping literary mystery ... asks powerful questions about identity, freedom, and the cost of truth in a world unwilling to accept it ... [Yehudit's] quiet grief, her refusal to be silenced by the men around her, and her courage to confront the hypocrisy within her own community create a deeply compelling portrait of feminine strength in a patriarchal age ... With beautiful prose, richly developed characters, and thought-provoking themes, What Was Forbidden is both a mystery and a meditation on freedom, faith, and the struggle between progress and tradition ... "Bockian's debut is as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally engaging—a literary triumph that lingers long after the final page." — Jeyran Main, Review Tales
"... captivating ... A gripping, erudite historical novel...." — Michele Sharpe, Forward Reviews
"Bockian's Ghetto is enlivened by his research, rich sensory descriptions, and complex characters..." — DeWitt Henry, award winning author, founder of Ploughshares literary magazine.
"Tensely rendered, with flowing prose... A great historical fiction read." -- Rachel Deeming, Discovery
"A terrific novel ... immensely literate, historically accurate." -- Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, author of over a dozen books on Jewish mysticism and the novel Kabbalah: a Love Story.
