For the sake of clarity I chose to simplify certain references; for example, the area now known as Richmond upon Thames was called Petersham in the seventeenth century. Rather than refer to the same area by two names, I used the modern name throughout. And my depiction of the program through which Helen and other foreigners volunteer in Israel is based on programs that were developed several years after Helen would have been in Israel.
A list of the works I found helpful while researching this book could fill pages. I’d like to give particular mention, though, to Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity; Steven Nadler’s Spinoza: A Life and Spinoza’s Heresy; David S. Katz’s The Jews in the History of England, 1485–1850; Miriam Bodian’s Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam; Julia R. Lieberman’s Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora; Jonathan I. Israel’s Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750; Kristin Waters’s Women & Men Political Theorists: Enlightened Conversations; and Liza Picard’s Restoration London, which I returned to again and again for the details of Ester’s surroundings.
A master cherub carver worked in Richmond/Petersham in the seventeenth century; his work can still be seen in grand houses of the era, though his name has been lost to history.
Acknowledgments
I’m deeply grateful to the historians, conservators, archivists, and others I consulted in the process of researching this novel. Among them: Amy Armstrong, Gloria Ascher, Zachary Baker, Rachel Brody, David DeGraaf, Frank Garcia, Jane Gerber, Dominic Green, Rachel Greenblatt, Joshua Jacobson, Paul Jankowski, Camille Kotton, David Liss, Sharon Musher, Nell Painter, Jonathan Schneer, Kathrin Seidl-Gomez, Stephanie Shirilan, Skye Shirley, Malcolm Singer, and Simon Wartnaby. My gratitude also to the staff and volunteers at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, the Jewish Historical Society of England, the Richmond upon Thames Local Studies Collection, and English Heritage, for their assistance and their patience.
I’m indebted to the Koret Foundation for the happy months I spent as writer-in-residence at Stanford University; my thanks especially to Steven Zipperstein for his vision, for his friendship, and for permission to sit in on history classes of my choosing. The MacDowell Colony and the Corporation of Yaddo provided me with precious time and space—opportunities I couldn’t have made use of without the loving support of Ashley Fuller and Gabrielle Asgarian. Laura Kolbe’s diligent assistance was essential as I conducted early research; and the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center and the Hadassah–Brandeis Institute provided encouragement, community, and all-important library access. I’m indebted to Shulamit Reinharz, to Debby Olins, and to the wonderful Hilda Poulson for her invaluable and skilled assistance.
I’m grateful beyond measure for the thoughtful input of some of the scholars and artists whose books were most helpful in my research. For conversations that helped me situate this story on the map of Shakespearean studies and attendant controversies, I’m indebted to Tina Packer and to James Shapiro. David S. Katz did me the prodigious favor of reading the manuscript for historical accuracy, as did Julia Lieberman; I could not have found better guides to the seventeenth-century communities depicted in this novel. Steven Nadler, whose own works about Spinoza were essential guides, was generous with his time and expertise. My thanks to Kristin Waters not only for her own writings about political theorists, but for the humor and grace with which she helped me find my way into seventeenth-century philosophy. And I cannot sufficiently thank Rebecca Newberger Goldstein for her illuminating writings on Spinoza; for her care in helping me ensure that the philosophical component of this story was accurate; and for demonstrating just how capaciously a philosopher engages with the world.
I could not have been more fortunate than to have Martha Collins, Tony Eprile, and Kim Garcia as wise friends and friends. During the years I worked on this book, many friends were generous with their time and help in ways large and small. I’m especially grateful to Howie Axelrod, Laurel Chiten, Sue Fendrick, Kerry Folkman, Laurie Foos, Rochelle Friedman, Yaron and Tali Galai, Sarah Kilgallon, Lori Leif, Melanie Leitner, Sheryl Levy, Michael Lowenthal, Adrian Matejka, Lisa Mayer, Kiran Milunsky, Brian Morton, Lena Parvex, Heidi Schwartz, Susan Silverman, Sharon Stampfer, Douglas Stone, Ellen Wittlin, and Heather Zacker. For their humor, advice, and excellent company I thank Emily Franklin, Heidi Pitlor, Joanna Rakoff, and Jessica Shattuck. I’m grateful beyond what I can express here to Tova Mirvis for her thoughtful input on the manuscript, and for her extraordinary talent for intelligent friendship. And Carol Gilligan made a home for this book on every level; her insight and her ability to hear fathoms below the surface made all the difference, as did the hospitality she and Jim Gilligan provided.
Sarah Burnes, aided by Logan Garrison and the rest of the crew at Gernert Company, were everything a writer could hope for. Thank you, Sarah, for your faith in this book. And Lauren Wein was the dream editor for this novel; enormous thanks to her, to Pilar Garcia-Brown for all her good-humored help, and to the rest of the wonderful team at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
A special mention to Adam Rivkin, for whose keen eye and quiet sense of humor I’m grateful. And to Anna and Larry Kadish, Lilly Singer, Joan Sherman, to my siblings Debbie and Jan and Sam and Ali, and all the nephews and the whole glorious extended tangle of family near and far, my abundant thanks for your warmth and support during the years I spent working on this book.
Finally, my gratitude to Talia and Jacob, whose love and enthusiasm are everything.
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About the Author
RACHEL KADISH is the award-winning author of the novels From a Sealed Room and Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story, and the novella I Was Here. Her work has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, Ploughshares, and Tin House.
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