User:Vivvt/The Book of Rachel

The Book of Rachel is 2006 novel by an Indian Jewish author Esther David and published by Penguin India. The novel is a story of the last surviving Bene Israel Jew in a small town on the Konkan coasts of Maharashtra who fights the greedy local businessmen when they want to demolish the only synagogue left in the town. David won the Sahitya Akademi Award in English category.

Plot
The eponymous Rachel Dandekar is an old woman living in a small town Danda on the western coast of Maharashtra. Her husband is died and her children have left her to settle down in Israel. She remains the last Bene Israel Jew living in the town but very well intermingles with other communities. At times, she is introduced as being a Koknastha Bramhin by her neighbours. She speaks Marathi, dresses in traditional saris and also sings Marathi bhajans of Hindu god Krishna. Her friends amuse her in her lonely times; for instance when she feels low for not being able to meet her first new born grandchild. Her children insist that she should move to Israel along with her, but she holds on to the place where she has spent her life and has memories and most importantly where her husband is buried. She is also a passionate cook and each chapter of the novel is titled with a different traditional cuisine that she cooks for her guests or at times just for herself. Being the last of the Bene Israel Jew in the town, she takes it as her duty to maintain the only synagogue of town and decides to fight for the monument when some local businessmen decide to demolish it for commercial venture. Rachel's faith and ardour keeps the developers away from the last surviving relic of her ancestors.

Reviews and reception
In 2010, Esther David won the Sahitya Akademi Award in English category for the novel.