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Podcast: New Books in Women's History
Episode: Blanche Bendahan, "Mazaltob: A Novel" (Brandeis UP, 2024)
Description: Raised in the JuderÃa or Jewish quarter of Tetouan, Morocco, at the turn of the 20th-century, sixteen-year-old Mazaltob finds herself betrothed to José, an uncouth man from her own community who has returned from Argentina to take a wife. Mazaltob, however, is in love with Jean, who is French, half-Jewish, and a free spirit. In this classic of North African Jewish fiction, Blanche Bendahan evokes the two compelling forces tearing Mazaltob apart in her body and soul: her loyalty to the JuderÃa and her powerful desire to follow her own voice and find true love. Bendahan’s nuanc...