Fifteen-year-old Rivka Liebermann, the daughter of a highly respected doctor in Prague's walled Jewish quarter, has just learned of her arranged betrothal to Oskar Kara, her brother's friend. Although Oskar seems gentle, kind, and wise, she hardly knows him. Whenever she thinks of the upcoming marriage, she feels a terrible pain in her stomach.Rivka thinks that if she could just leave the quarter for one day, she'd be happy. She wants desperately to walk through the streets of the city and see the marketplaces and bridges and hills her brother Jakob has described to her. But it is forbidden for a girl to leave the quarter on her own.But what if she dressed as a Gentile boy? How difficult would it be to walk past the guard at the gate and explore the city? Does she dare? Once the plan enters her head, Rivka can't let it go. She assembles a disguise and secretly leaves the quarter on her own. What she experiences outside the walls changes forever the way she thinks of her family, of the relations between Jews and Christians, and of herself and Oskar.

 

This book was recognised in the Older Readers category by the Sydney Taylor Book Award.

There are 137 pages in this book. This book was published 2001 by Cricket Books, a division of Carus Publishing Co .

Teri Kanefield is a lawyer and writer. Her books have won numerous awards, including the Jane Addams Peace Award in the Older Readers category. She lives with her family in Pleasanton, CA.