By Grace Tiffany '85M.A., '89Ph.D. (Berkley Books)
In
this skilled retelling of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice,
the author uses the perspective of five women to offer a new view
of the character Shylock. Shiloh ben Gozan, a moneylender, escapes
the Spanish Inquisition with his infant daughter to live in Venice.
He takes with him a turquoise ring, which is hidden, stolen, traded
and eventually turns up in the hands of the rich heiress Portia.
This book marks the third of Tiffany's celebrated historical
fictions that plumb the world of Shakespeare's time.
(November 2005)
