Sarra Copia: A Locked-in Life
is historical fiction based on the life of the title character, who was confined in the Jewish ghetto in Venice from her birth in 1592 until her death forty-nine years later. Sarra's father supported her secular as well as her Hebrew education, and she studied classical Greek, Latin, and philosophy, and wrote poetry and letters. Sarra even convened a literary salon in the ghetto that was attended regularly by Christian cleric— including one who came to accuse her of heresy. In crystalline prose, Nancy Ludmerer reimagines Sarra's relationships with her family, her inner world, and her strong but often troubled connections with the Christian world outside the ghetto.