The Only Daughter Author:A. B. Yehoshua Rachele Luzzato is 12 years old when she learns her father is seriously ill. While her family are looking forward to her Bat-Mitzvah, Rachele's teachers happen to cast her as the Madonna in the school's Christmas play. Pulled in opposing directions, Rachele feels the threads of her life begin to untangle. — With the fear of losing her fat... more »her, various forces compete to guide and take care of Rachele: from her charismatic Jewish grandfather, to her Catholic grandparents on her mother's side; and even an old teacher who believes the young girl might take solace from a nineteenth-century novel.
These disparate influences ultimately blend in Rachele's imagination to create a fantasy that transcends the religious and cultural conflicts of her everyday life with one simple hope: to end the loneliness felt by an only daughter.« less