The Weight of Ink: A Feminist and Jewish Masterpiece

The Weight of Ink whisks you from the present to the past, and guides you on a path (paved by strong, intelligent women) through Jewish history and faith.

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish follows the stories of two brilliant women. The first, in modern day London, is Helen Watt, an ailing professor of Jewish History. Not Jewish herself, Helen is an enigma at first introduction, primary committed to her studies even as her health begins to fail and her university presses her to retire.

The second is Esther Velasquez, a Portuguese Jew living in London in the 1660s, who defied the conventions of the time and scribed for a blind rabbi. Esther’s story shows a woman who fights to remain true to her mind. She resists marriage and desire in the pursuit of knowledge, something highly discouraged for a woman at the time.

When an old student of Helen’s shows her a stack of papers discovered in his newly inherited 17th century London home, Helen and Esther’s stories begin to weave together.

With a highly cerebral bent, this novel follows both Esther’s investigations into the Jewish faith and Helen’s search for truth, meaning, and the threads of history in the documents Esther left behind.

Both women are powerful characters given to questioning the world and faith, and determined to hold on to their own sense of self despite the pressures and obstacles of the people and societies around them.

What I Loved

The Writing and the World Building

While a story in two parts–modern day London and 1660s London–it’s the 1660s that that the reader is really transported to. The streets of London, the raucous theater performances, the politics of being both a Jew and a woman.

The majority of the novel that takes place in modern London occurs in an old 17th century home and in the rare documents room at a University. Therefore the story itself is focused on history–on learning from it, on drawing connections. Thus, for the 1660s to be the main place of transport–the main world explored–is perfectly fitting.

However, both timelines paint a vivid picture the experience of Jews. This book gripped me and would not let me go, painting a picture of thousands of years of suffering (such as one learns in school), but making it personal. Making it so I stood, for pages and pages, in the shoes of a man who had lost his sister and mother to the Holocaust, in the shoes of a man who had been tortured by the Inquisition. Kadish’s novel doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, but addresses them in a way that pulls you in and says, “Feel this. Don’t just learn about it in school, but feel it.”

Final Thoughts

The Weight of Ink took my on a journey (though not one for the faint of heart as it’s over 700 pages long). Yet every one of those many words helped construct a story and a world that I was reluctant to leave.

I highly recommend this novel for anyone interested in stepping in the world of Judaism and Jewish experiences throughout history. I believe The Weight of Ink will appeal to readers who liked the The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) but wished for less action and more academia. Readers of The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) will also find similar elements in The Weight of Ink.