The Renegade

Description

On a morning in 1840, a young boy discovers, under an olive tree on the outskirts of Nablus, the body of David Ajash, an Italian rabbi and kabbalist of Algerian origin. Homicide or suicide? The doubt remains past the end of this captivating literary debut.

More than a fictionalized biography, The Renegade seamlessly merges historical questions and hypotheses into the fabric of a work of literary fiction. All of this, while portraying in vivid brushstrokes, the Jewish Nation of Livorno in the staggering vitality of its hay day: Hebrew printing, philosophical debates, sea-trade, as well as foods, smells, brothels, and shifting alliances.

“My descent into hell was already at a good point. Fate was offering me another chance.”