Jewel Trader of Pegu

Extensively researched and beautifully written

The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover tells the story of Abraham, a young man from Venice who escapes the city's ghetto and restrictions on its Jewish citizens in the fall of 1598. His work takes him to the Burmese kingdom of Pegu, which has a rather unique custom of asking foreign traders to deflower young brides (this, by the way, is historically accurate).

And so enters Mya, testing Abraham's faith, good manners, and everything he believes in. Just when he thinks he has those things figured out, Pegu goes under siege, and he has to make even more difficult decisions, including whether to try to smuggle Mya to Venice, a crime that could lead to the deaths of many.

I think because of its switching narrative perspectives, it took me a while to get into this book; at about 75 pages in, though, I was hooked, and at that point, there was no stopping me.

For several days, I took Abraham and Mya everywhere with me. I couldn't wait to find out what he was learning about himself, Judaism, Catholicism, Mya, and Pegu itself-and how he was expressing it in letters to his cousin Joseph back in Italy. And what was young Mya feeling, in this strange house with a foreign man?

The Jewel Trader of Pegu is an extensively researched and beautifully written book. It was surely a great challenge for Hantover to write from the alternating perspectives of Abraham, a 16th century Jew in Venice, and Mya, who is illiterate, but it didn't show at all in the prose-and I consider that a sign of great writing.

If you like well-crafted, well-written, compelling stories that delve into cultural differences, historical customs, and the meaning of true love, The Jewel Trader of Pegu absolutely delivers.

It wasn't a quick read for me as it had me stopping and thinking every few pages, and that's part of why I enjoyed it so much.

I give this book four espresso cups out of five.

~ Michelle Fabio
bleedingespresso.com

Very unusual story and a great read!

This is Jeffrey Hantover's first book and its great! Set in the 1500's, an Italian ghetto Jew goes to Pegu in Berma to trade and finds so many strange and wonderful things. Its a wonderful love story too and just full of insights. Incredibly interesting and thoughtful story. I can't wait for his next novel!

A great little book about a jewel trader who is an orthodox jew. He travels to a strange land with strange people. He is thrown into a world of a different god and values. A great story of his journey!

A great little book. i was telling three friends about the book and they all made me stop
because they wanted to read it.
The author was very descriptive. i could visualize the characters and places so well.
The book takes place in letters to a cousin. I liked this way of telling a story.
Loved it!!!

Life lived and fulfilled.

This book I learned so much I didn't have a clue about. Old Customs of old far away lands is one. Also I learned About People that endure major hurdles and come out ahead.Also Traditions and customs that people carry out century after century with major consequences on their lives. The scenic beauty of this novel is also an amazing asset reading it. The quite descriptive pose the author offers to his readers is another asset. Just a awesome read that I do not feel you would regret. I feel this novel will linger in your heart for a long time.

The Jewel Trader of Pegu

The Jewel Trader of Pegu is a small gem: beautifully crafted, delicate, with nuanced facets and sparkling with vivid descriptions. It¿s an oft-told tale: Western man leaves behind the corrupt and stifling world he knows to seek escape and love in the East. But it has never been told from this perspective and seldom with such lyrical flair. We learn the story through the letters of Abraham, a sixteenth-century Italian Jew whose world has literally been limited by the high walls and bricked up windows of the Venetian ghetto. We learn that Abraham himself is no less responsible for the prison in which he lives: losing his wife and child early in his marriage he has shut himself down and forgotten how to take pleasure. On an assignment from his Uncle, a jewel dealer, he travels to the far reaches of Pegu in the kingdom of Burma to seek a fortune in gems. The sights, sounds and customs of Pegu reawaken Abraham's senses. He is intoxicated by the freedom to walk the streets, now just one foreigner among many, rather than marked out as a Jew. Pegu is a place both magical and terrifying, a place of fragrant teas on late-afternoon verandahs and spiked fruit bursting with succulent milk. But it is also a place where elephants are pampered while entire villages starve, and women and children hung by their feet to choke on their own blood. Abraham is aghast at the savagery and superstitions of the Peguans but wise enough to know that the place he has left behind is also cruel and tinged with violence. Maintaining his Jewish faith and beliefs, Abraham comes to tolerate and even respect the Peguan vision of the world. This is most radically tested when he is asked to perform an act he sees as barbaric yet this act itself brings him into contact with Mya, who teaches him a lesson in both acceptance and love. For the first time, Abraham is in a position to protect and benefit someone else, and it is a role that transforms him. Hantover¿s novel is a delight not only for its evocations of this strange and beautiful place, but also for Abraham's quiet but profound meditations on faith, tolerance and the connections that bind people in very distant parts of the world. He comes to learn that the riches we find are not always those we seek, and therefore even more valuable.

A reviewer

In 1598 twenty-seven year old Jewish jewel peddler Abraham decides to leave Venice following the death of his wife. His family protests and pleads with him to stay in Venice as they worry about his sitting Shiva on a ship and living amidst gentiles eating non-kosher food. Still ignoring their soulful admonitions, he travels to Pegu, a Burmese kingdom where he opens up an extension of the family business back home by obtaining top of the line gems. --- Abraham is pleased with his the results of his decision to leave Europe as he no longer is incarcerated in a ghetto in Pegu, he can go where he wants when he wants. However, he soon learns that foreigners must perform a duty that will bring good fortune to new brides failure to do so mean expulsion from the country, but that requirement violates Jewish scripture. He also has an attraction to local Mya, but doubts that love is strong enough to overcome their respective religions. --- More a historical character study of predominately two protagonists, THE JEWEL TRADER OF PEGU is a fascinating look at a sixteenth century Jewish European living in an Asian kingdom a stranger in a strange land. The story line is told mostly by his letters to his family in Venice, but also has interesting interludes that provide Mya¿s perspective on some of the same events that Abraham describes. Limited in action fans who appreciate a deep historical look into star-crossed lovers struggling with personal, religious and national differences. --- Harriet Klausner

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.