The Only Daughter written by A.B. Yehoshua is the story of a young girl living with her parents and grandparents in Italy. Rachele Luzzato is preparing for her upcoming Bat Mitzvah with an Israeli Rabbi who has come to Italy to teach. She is also being asked to play the part of the “Mother of GD” in the school’s Christmas play. The teacher says Rachele would be perfect for the part because of her skin tone and curly hair. Her father refuses to let her participate in the play.
Her maternal grandparents are Catholic, though her grandmother describes herself as “a devout atheist who is nonetheless careful not to sabotage the Jewish faith of her only granddaughter.” Her paternal grandfather survived the Holocaust masquerading as a priest. Her father was born as the war is ending in a small Italian village, brought into the world by a Nazi sympathizing doctor, who saved the mother and baby’s lives.
Though out the novel runs a thread about the 19th-century Italian novel “Cuore” (“Heart”), by Edmondo De Amicis. This book had special significance in Yehoshua’s life and he interweaves the stories in this book to emphasize the points he is trying to impress upon the reader. There are so many topics in this novel to analyze and ponder.
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