Marcus Lehmann (1831–1890)

Takes place during the time of the Crusades. Richard the Lionheart is in it. Sadly, I don't see the children I know being interested in spite of all the adventures.

There are two brothers, Rabbi Shimshon a great scholar---a Tosafist---and Chaim a less than perfect merchant. They are captured and about to be sold into slavery when the local Jewish community of Mogador realizes what a great man they have in their midst; they collect enough money to ransom him, but Shimshon declines and insists that the money rescue his brother instead. More adventures and bravery and cleverness and lots of Jewish learning (for the reader) follow. SPOILER: The rabbi is bought by the Emir Said to be a gardener at his estate in the hills of Lebonan. Fatima, the Emir's daughter, likes Rabbi Shimshon and, because of the rabbi's polite but distant behavior, gets over her crush. Rabbi Shimshon manages to rescue Richard the Lion-Hearted and is named Prince of Coucy as a reward. Chaim's attempts to make Therese, Rabbi Shimson's daughter, marry a rich but ignorant man are thwarted at the end of the book and she marries Yitzchak, the scholar she loves and the man Shimshon wanted for her.

The book begins with a page of Talmud, on which a phrase in Rashi script is underlined; my guess is that it says something about Shimshon of Coucy. It is historical fiction because of all the well-done dialogue.… (mais)