The best book I read this month was an inspiring work of historical fiction. Set in Eastern Europe during the 14th century, Rena Rossner’s The Light of the Midnight Stars is a story of survival, perseverance, and magic.
Hannah, Sarah, and Levana live with their parents near the Hungarian woods. Each daughter has a magical gift, as do their parents. Their family is part of a magical Jewish sect called Solomonars, descendants of King Solomon and inheritors of his magic.
As the story opens, a darkness called the Black Mist is spreading across Eastern Europe and, as is often the case in European history, the Jews are blamed for it. A violent confrontation forces the three young women and their parents to flee into the woods and eventually to Wallachia, supposedly a haven of religious tolerance.
In Wallachia, the sisters deal with the trauma of the antisemitic violence they escaped while also hiding their identities as Jews. They each pursue a different path forward, and as they do, they find their way back to their magical selves. To say more would provide spoilers.
I loved the idea of magical Jewish women. I needed the story of perseverance and survival. At a time when I am exhausted by the world, this book fed my soul.