A novel about the life of Jewish poet Nanetta Schildesheim. The author is a descendant and had the idea for this novel after researching his own genealogy.
The daughter of a merchant, Nanetta wants to follow the example of her childhood friend Heinrich Heine and publish poetry rather than lead the secluded life of an orthodox Jew. She visits Heidelberg with her father just as the poet Kotzebue is murdered. When she eavesdrops on some plotting rebels, she is suspected of being a spy for the authoritarian Metternich. The city is in uproar, a mob attacks the Jewish residents, and Nanetta learns that in the middle of all this, someone is trying to kill her. (Publisher's Information)