Montreal Review of Books, Spring/Summer 1999
Without offering simple soutions, Ternar gathers the shards of light connecting the fates of these unforgettable characters, piecing together a compelling and timely story.

Montreal Review of Books
Ternar gathers the shards of light connecting the fates of these unforgettable characters, piecing together a compelling and timely story.

The Montreal Gazette, November 7, 1998
It stands the conventions of the historical novel on their head, leavens them with magic realism and time travel, and mixed in doses of philosophy and mysticism.

Book Description
Ternar draws upon the turbulent history of Sephardic Jews in 17th century Amsterdam, the artistic preoccupations of the elderly Rembrandt, and the controversial convictions of the false messiah, Sabbatai Sevi of Smyrna to create an entrancing tale. The central character of the novel, Samuel, is the man with his back to the viewer at the centre of a Rembrandt etching which depicts a group of Jewish men conversing in front of a synagogue. Ternar gives this man a face and a life history. Rembrandt's Model challenges the prevalent assumptions about Ottoman and Western European cultures, and imaginatively suggests how the Wandering Jew-whether travelling in real life, in an etching, or in a dream-was crucial to the spiritual identity of both cultures. The mystery and wonder of Ternar's novel envelops us as we travel over time and place with Samuel-spanning the centuries to the present day, from Spain, to Amsterdam, and then to Istanbul.

About the Author
Turkish-born Yeshim Ternar is the author of the short story collections Orphaned by Halley's Comet and True Romance with a Sailor (which was short-listed for Mordecai Richler's 1996 Prix Parizeau, and QSPELL's Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction), The Book & the Veil: Escape from an Istanbul Harem, a blending of essay and fiction, was described by Charles Foran in the Montreal Gazette as "daring in form and bold in intent."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Ternar draws upon the turbulent history of Sephardic Jews in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, the artistic preoccupations with the elderly Remnbrandt and the controversial convictions of the false messiah of Smyrna to create an entrancing tale. The central character of the novel, Samuel, is the man with his back to the viewer at the center of a Rembrandt etching that depicts a group of Jewish men conversing in front of a synagogue. Ternar's expansive novel gives Samuel a face and a life history.

Rembrandt's Model challenges the prevalent assumptions about Ottoman and Western European cultures, and imaginatively suggests how the Wandering Jew-whether travelling in real life, in an etching, or in a dream-was crucial to the spiritual identity of both cultures. The mystery and wonder of Ternar's novel envelops us as we travel over time and place with Samuel-spanning the centuries to the present day, from Spain, to Amsterdam, and then to Istanbul.

About the Author: