The Weight of Ink Summary
Kadish, Rachel

The Weight of Ink Overview

Expertly transitioning between three third-person narratives in the twenty-first and seventeenth centuries, author Rachel Kadish presents a mysterious and intellectual historical fiction in The Weight of Ink. As Helen and Aaron analyze papers that had been hidden within a manor in Richmond, Surrey, readers are taken back in time to the life of Ester; the highly intelligent and daring woman whose hand recorded the heretical and philosophical thoughts contained within the documents. In the present, Helen and Aaron compete with another research group to uncover the importance of the documents, finding meaning in Ester’s life as they grapple with personal struggles of their own. Kadish’s novel features, among others, themes of loneliness and atheism, heresy, and truth seeking; death, choice, and martyrdom; fate and free will; and love and freedom.