Jessica of Venice by Rachel Beth Greene

Convening in a forgotten library, a group of Orthodox Jewish schoolgirls discover a banned copy of The Merchant of Venice and become fascinated with Jessica, the rebellious runaway daughter. Most enamored of all is the discontented Shaina, who dreams of a big world just beyond her community and crushes on a Christian boy from her driver’s ed class. Lines between harsh reality and forbidden fiction begin to blur as Shaina walks a dangerous tightrope between religious and secular worlds. Set in the present day with Early Modern themes, “jessica of venice” asks what it takes to rip yourself from the home that made you, and what – or who – you destroy on your way out.