After a mysterious manuscript titled Vashtiâs Daughter keeps appearing at her office and home, twenty-nine-year-old book publisher Anna Steine is haunted by dreams where she is living in 366 BCE.
With the help of reincarnation experts, archeologists and a Kabbalist Rabbi, Anna discovers she is, in fact, Adara, the reincarnated daughter of Queen Vashti, the first wife of King Achashverosh of the Book of Esther.
Risking her company and budding relationship with bookâs author, Dr. Nathaniel Braverman, a Middle Eastern Studies professor at Brandeis University, she must find a way to break an ancient curse put on her and fulfil a vow she made centuries ago that will finally bring her true happiness in love and change the worldâs view on a biblical heroine.
After a mysterious manuscript titled Vashtiâs Daughter keeps appearing at her office and home, twenty-nine-year-old book publisher Anna Steine is haunted by dreams where she is living in 366 BCE.
With the help of reincarnation experts, archeologists and a Kabbalist Rabbi, Anna discovers she is, in fact, Adara, the reincarnated daughter of Queen Vashti, the first wife of King Achashverosh of the Book of Esther.
Risking her company and budding relationship with bookâs author, Dr. Nathaniel Braverman, a Middle Eastern Studies professor at Brandeis University, she must find a way to break an ancient curse put on her and fulfil a vow she made centuries ago that will finally bring her true happiness in love and change the worldâs view on a biblical heroine.
At some future time Anna Steine, President of Steine & Steine Publishers would remember it was exactly 2:18 on a Friday afternoon in March when she returned to her office after a relatively uneventful lunch with her editorial staff to find two items on her desk. One, she was delighted to see, was an invitation to her best friend Elaine Levineâs annual Purim party. The other was a plain brown package which solicited the exact opposite reaction. Even before she touched the package, Anna knew by the size and shape, exactly what it contained, and she was furious.
âJANETâ, Anna screamed into the intercom. âCome into my office, NOW!â
In under three seconds, Annaâs executive assistant was standing in front of her desk, visibly shaken.
 âHow did THIS get on my desk?â
Anna handed the package to Janet and pointed to the one hand-written line printed in large blue script on the front: Vashtiâs Daughter by Nathaniel Braverman, Ph.D. Â
 âNo, Anna. Iâve never seen it before,â Janet sputtered. âI was eating lunch at my desk and didnât see anyone go into your office. Gary from the mailroom gave me just the one envelope that I put on your desk. I swear that package wasnât there.â
âWell, some very unprofessional author obviously broke into my office at some point. You know we have a strict policy on not accepting unsolicited manuscripts.â
Janet nodded. Anna tossed the intrusive package into the garbage can, picked up her phone and pressed the small red button.Â
âIâm calling security. They can check the cameras and report to me first thing Monday morning.â
In a gentler tone, Anna added, âYou can shut down the office early, Janet. Iâm going to finish a few things and head out myself.â
âThanks, Anna. Iâm sure weâll figure out this mystery soon. See you on Monday.â
Janet was relieved to see her bossâs mood lighten bit, and the opportunity to beat the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, Janet left the office as quickly as sheâd arrived.
With the office now empty, Anna walked over to the portable bar cart on the far side of the office and poured herself a large shot of Jack Daniels. Returning to her desk, she picked up the invitation. Purim, she thought. The story of Vashti who refused to dance naked, wearing only a crown, for her husbandâs wild drunken friends.
Anna remembered her Hebrew school classes and how the other kids would laugh when she dressed up as Vashti at their annual celebration. It didnât help matters that Annaâs straight auburn hair and bright smile made more of the frizzy-haired girls jealous than just playing the character she chose to portray in a Purim play.
Those Esthers were more than happy to see a beautiful Vashti banished from the stage so they could get on with their own beauty contest. Anna didnât care, while the other girls were competing, she was behind the curtain making out with the boy playing Estherâs uncle Mordecai, who inevitably ditched her for a flirtatious Queen Esther.
The memory having faded, Anna tore open the envelope and read the brightly colorful text:
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You are requested to celebrate the Feast of Esther
at a Purim Party Masquerade Ball
13th Day of Adar, 5777
Eat Hamantashen and drink Kosher wine
From 3:00 - till you canât remember your own name!
R.S.V.P.O.E.
Costumes required!
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Anna laughed aloud when she read the last two lines. The added âO.E.â stood for Or Else, it was a sure fire way to make certain invitees would definitely respond. She and Elaine were notorious for finding creative ways to make their invitees regret a non-response, from multiple pizza deliveries, to sending their e-mail address to twenty different charities, all of which they were too embarrassed not to follow through with. Over time, not a single invitee would dare not call, and more often than not, the call would be an acceptance. This time, however Anna wasnât quite sure what her response was going to be.
On one hand, she thought, a party might be a good distraction. âMaybe Iâll try to go this year. At least it wonât be a surprise celebration for my thirtieth birthday. Anna lamented, thinking about her third decade event looming in the near future which she would make every effort to avoid.
 On the other hand, or rather on the other side of her desk, was a stack of manuscripts she had planned on reading over the weekend. With her recent acquisitions not even breaking the digital e-book top-twenty list, she was desperately trying to climb out from under an uncomfortable and uncharacteristic slump.Â
Anna was still recovering from passing on another first-time authorâs vampire novel because she felt the genre was as cold and dead as the main character. When it shot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list, then optioned for a television series, she had to fend off several letters of resignation from the agent who had recommended the novel as well as ten other agents who all thought anyone over the age of thirty was a literary dinosaur.
Perhaps a work-free, worry-free, stress-free Saturday night was just what she needed, Anna thought, even if it was for an archaic Jewish holiday. She picked up the phone and called the number on the invitation. She could have easily sent Elaine a text, but for this celebration, she wanted to give her girlfriend a more personal reply. Even though Anna grew up with instant communication technology, she was somewhat old-fashioned in her desire to connect with an actual person, even if it were only a voice on the other end of her phone; her very old-fashioned and out dated land line phone. After the fourth ring, she was just about to hang up when she heard the familiar voice say.
âHi, Anna. I assume you received my invitation?â
âOf course I did. Why should this Saturday night be any different than every other Saturday night?â Anna laughed at her play on the Passover Haggadah line.
 âCute way to confuse the holidays,â Elaine laughed.
âYouâre terrible.â Anna laughed. âAbout this party, are you serious about the costume?â
âOf course. I know you only go to services on the High Holy days, but my Templeâs Havarah thought it would be a lot of fun for the adults to get together and have a full blown Purim party without kids for a change. At our age we no longer get presents for Hanukkah and forget trick and treating for Halloween, so I thought this year, instead of celebrating ourâŚâ
âDonât you DARE say it!â Anna interrupted her friend before she could finish her sentence about their age.
âNo worries,â Elaine agreed. âThat forbidden number will not escape my lips, at least not for another four months. I guarantee youâre going to have a great time. Iâm planning a full blown traditional Purim celebration. My rabbi has a real Magilla scroll sheâs bringing and Iâve got noise makers left over from New Yearâs Eve. Iâve even invited a genuine Kabbalah Tarot card reader, so please come so we can have a real Purim party and celebrate our heroine Queen Esther. Maybe youâre meet someone, itâs been over two years since the divorce.â
âDonât remind me. If not for your excellent legal skills, I never would have won the major divisions of Steine and Steine while Henry was left with the print on demand division. Believe me, Iâve tried to date, but itâs been one disaster after another. I swear, Elaine, sometimes I think Iâm cursed.â
âWell, thatâs one great reason for you to come to my party. I promise it will be as fabulous as the party I surprised you with when you graduated Syracuse.â
âThat seems like a million years ago,â Anna lamented. â Iâm still a huge S.U. basketball fan, as you know.â
 âGood thing the season is over. Now you have no excuse not to attend my party!â
âOKâ, Anna surrendered to her friendâs pleas. âMaybe my going will make my parents happy. With the book expo coming up, I told them I was going to be too busy to spend Passover with them this year I probably wonât be able to stay very long, I still have these manuscripts to finish reading and my agentâs and their authorâs dreams to crush. Iâm sure none of them have any idea who Queen Esther is if sheâs not a vampire or a zombie!â
âWell, there certainly wonât be any of those at this party, Jews are forbidden to drink human blood or flesh, unless of course itâs been certified as kosher.â Anna and Elaine both laughed. âSo, take a few hours off and go get a great costume. Weâre going to have a lot of Queen Esthers at my house.â
âEsther? Elaine, you know I always dressed as Vashti. She was the real heroine of the story in my opinion.â
 âYes, I know. Vashti is the first wife who didnât want to show her face because she had a pimple. If I stayed home every time I had zit, Iâd never go anywhere.â
âWell, thatâs one interpretation of the story. Maybe Iâll come to your party dressed as Vashtiâs daughter.â Anna heard the words came out of her mouth before her brain had time to form them.
           âVashtiâs what?â Elaine exclaimed.
âJust kidding. Of course Vashti didnât have a daughter,â Anna composed herself.
âWell, wear whatever you want, just make sure youâre here tomorrow night.â
âI promise, O.E.â Anna chuckled.
âO.E.â
Anna placed the receiver back into its holder. She had no idea why she had made that comment about dressing as Vashtiâs daughter. Perhaps it was only a residue thought from the package she had thrown away earlier. Turning off the lights in her office and checking to be sure sheâd locked the door behind her, Anna headed to the elevator.Â
She didnât know it at the time the ride to the parking lot was the beginning of a revelationary journey that would not only change her life, but that of millions in nearly every corner of the globe.
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Vashtiâs Daughter tells the story of Anna, a publisher, Adara, and Vashti, who was briefly mentioned in the book of Esther as a disobedient wife who refused to follow orders. Like Lilith and Miriam, Vashti has been portrayed as problematic throughout history.
When publisher Anna goes to a Purim party at her friend Elaineâs house, goes dressed as Vashti and so begins a life-changing and mystical journey that sends her back thousands of years to a time when Esther was still queen. It is Esther herself, the revered queen, and Purim hero, who wants to clear Vashtiâs name and unite her kingdom with that of Vashtiâs daughter, Adara. This leads to a further act of disobedience, a curse, and a lost manuscript telling Vashtiâs side of the story.
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The book is a wonderful exploration of identity, thinking through what it means to be Jewish as well as what it means to be a woman, both in times gone by and in the current world. It questions the power imbalances of the past. While present power imbalances, represented in Annaâs ex-husbandâs mistreatment, are a part of a curse, the author does describe the wider power imbalance that many women still struggle with.
The author untangles gender-based discriminations, showing their perpetrators as weak rather than symbols of true strength. Its only limit is its lack of messiness, showing that women can excel while the men in their lives remain vindictive. Even in current society this is often hard to achieve.
 I found Vashtiâs Daughter to be a gentle, thoughtful, and deeply spiritual novel that looks at how the past impacts the present, the injustices that linger as ghosts to haunt us, and the need to change the stories we tell about women.
This is a book I would recommend to readers who are interested in exploring Jewish identity. Itâs great for mystical readers wishing to explore how spirituality intertwines with social injustice.
Feminist literature has been shown to help women understand and resist discrimination, so I would also recommend this book to teenagers and young women everywhere.