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The Banished Heart: A Novel About Shakespeare, Secret Jews & 1930s Berlin Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

In this tale about society-condoned hatred vs. personal choice and courage, Paul Hoffman, a young Jew studying Shakespeare at a university in 1930s Berlin, experiences antisemitism firsthand when he is beaten up his fellow students. When Paul recovers consciousness he discovers he is no longer in Berlin. He's in Elizabethean England, where the up-and-coming playwright who is the subject of Paul's thesis is working on a new play: The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare has nothing personal against Jews. But a former Portuguese Jew named Roderigo Lopez has been accused of trying to poision the queen and the country is furious. With Shakespeare's manager and the theatre-going mob demanding a new play that will vilify the Jews - Marlowe's
The Jew of Malta was a huge success - what can he do?

What can he do?

That is the question, for Shakespeare - and Paul Hoffman - as they watch their society devolve into mindless hatred and violence.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Libi Astaire is the author of the award-winning Jewish Regency Mystery Series, which features a cast of lovably quirky characters and a generous dash of humor - and, of course, a bevy of baffling crimes to keep wealthy-widower-turned-sleuth Mr. Ezra Melamed busy.  

She is also the author of
The Banished Heart, a novel about Shakespeare, secret Jews, and 1930s Berlin; Terra Incognita, a novel about Spanish villagers who discover they are descended from Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages; The Latke in the Library, a humorous homage to Dame Agatha Christie; several volumes of Chassidic tales; and Day Trips to Jewish History, a collection of essays about lesser-known people and places in Jewish history. Her own journey has taken her from Kansas, where she grew up, to Jerusalem, where she now lives.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009FMQ0QC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aster Press (September 22, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1614 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0983793174
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

About the author

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Libi Astaire
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Libi Astaire is the author of the award-winning Jewish Regency Mystery Series, a humorous historical mystery series in which wealthy-widower-turned-sleuth Mr. Ezra Melamed teams up with General Well’ngone and the Earl of Gravel Lane - the lovably quirky leaders of a gang of young Jewish pickpockets - to solve crimes involving Regency London's Jewish community.

She is also the author of "Terra Incognita," a novel about the crypto-Jews of Spain; "The Banished Heart," a novel about Shakespeare, secret Jews and 1930s Berlin; and "Day Trips to Jewish History," a collection of essays about lesser-known people and places in Jewish history. Her retelling of Chassidic tales has been published in the box set "Choose Light! Chassidic Tales for Chanukah, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos, Passover & Shavuos."

And last but certainly not least, she is the author of "The Latke in the Library & Other Mystery Stories for Chanukah" and "Dying for Chametz & Other Mystery Stories for Passover," humorous homages to Dame Agatha Christie .

She lives in Jerusalem, Israel.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
19 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2021
    Paul Hoffman is preparing to defend his doctoral thesis on William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” He’s been navigating his literature department with varying degrees of success and failure. Everything has become political, and even a 400-year-old play can be suspect. His advisor is in one political camp, the department head in another.

    Political violence erupts the day he is to make his defense; in fact, it happens just as his defense begins. Paul is verbally attacked by the department head and severely beaten by radical students. During a period of unconsciousness, Paul has a dream, in which he’s offered a choice. Stand for truth to make a difference, or die.

    A story begins. It is a story of a young William Shakespeare, a boy in Stratford-on-Avon. He befriends another boy, whose family is ostensibly Christian and Anglican but are secretly Jewish. According to English law at the time, all Jews are banished from the kingdom. And it is the boy’s grandfather who begins to teach his grandson the Torah in secret. Young Shakespeare finagles his way into the studies, thing the Hebrew words and letters are a secret code.

    From there, the story moves to Shakespeare’s London. The young boy is now a playwright of growing fame, one who’s caught the eye of Queen Elizabeth. Political events almost mandate that theater companies produce a play about an evil Jew. Shakespeare, remembering his childhood friend, is loath to do it. Eventually, he writes a play that makes the lead Jewish character seem human. It scandalizes the theater owner and Shakespeare’s patron.

    What does this have to do with Paul Hoffman’s decision? Paul is living in 1933 Berlin. Hitler has just been elected, and Nazi violence, like the famous book burning, is on the upswing. During his thesis defense, Paul, who is Jewish, is attacked by faculty and students espousing Hitler’s cause. And he faces a decision.

    “The Banished Heart” by Libi Astaire is the story of Paul in early Nazi Germany and William Shakespeare in a London hostile to Jews. It’s an almost hypnotic tale of anti-Semitism, mob violence, and personal courage. That Astaire combines the two historical periods in one story suggests that she clearly sees parallels.

    Astaire has also published the Jewish Regency Mystery series, the novel “Terra Incognita,” a set of the retelling of Chasidic tales entitled “Choose Light!,” “Day Trips to Jewish History: Essays,” and “The Latke in the Library & Other Mystery Stories for Chanukah.”

    “The Banished Heart” is a moving story of hatred, violence, mobs, and the courage required to swim against the stream. And it holds many lessons for our own time.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2015
    As an avid fan of all things Austen and being hot-wired for Jewish historical fiction, I was thrilled to discover Libi Astaire and her collection of Jewish mystery novels. The Banished Heart most certainly does not take place in London's Regency period; my heart was not all aflutter for a Mr. Darcy or a Captain Wentworth, but there is a certain Austenesque quality to Astaire's story about Herr Hoffmann that set my heart pounding. Austen was known for her shrewd observances of communal mores; the biting social commentary within The Banished Heart of what it meant to be a Jew in Germany - a Jew in Spain - a Jew in England, can not be denied. Jane Austen was known for her realism. We are transported to her world through vivid descriptions of ordinary people; we connect with her characters because we relate to the Universal themes of human emotions and relationships. I felt the same intensity in reading Astaire's work. I was right there- in the moment- with Paul Hoffmann as his heart breaks while the world turns ugly and cruel, with Henry Rivers as he seeks justice, with Old Isaac as he shares his wisdom and love of tradition and of course, with Astaire's conflicted and shattered Shakespeare. I was left wanting more!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2012
    What an awesome premise. Libi Astaire does it again. Her premise in The Banished Heart is that William Shakespeare's writing was influenced by a Jewish Grandfather and Grandson he met in his youth. But WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!

    Libi Astaire develops a plot that has us visit characters in 1933 Germany...Jews who saw themselves as Germans and not Jews.

    Initially she runs two separate story lines and then masterfully weaves them together to one stirring conclusion.

    As you read through The Banished Heart you will enjoy the characters...you will find yourself building relationships with them, having opinions about their choices and you may even be surprised as to how Libi Astaire ties it all together.

    This is another Libi Astaire MUST READ BOOK!!!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2021
    The suspense builds and builds as the long-awaited day arrives for Paul Hoffman to defend his thesis, just when book burnings are being staged...and you meet characters like Laufer, who "was built like a prize fighter, complete with a broken nose"...and suddenly you meet William Shakespeare as a child, and it all comes together brilliantly.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2021
    Blends treatment of Jews in Shakespeare's time with the nightmare of Nazis! I found this book impossible to put down!
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2013
    Astaire relates an alternative ancestry for Shakespeare, takes us to inter-war Nazi Germany, and spins two ostensibly separate tales which become one in the end; how she did it is beyond me, but she did, and she did it brilliantly. ABSOLUTELY GREAT!
    3 people found this helpful
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