The Banished Heart

In this tale about society-condoned hatred vs. personal choice and courage, Paul Hoffman, a young Jew studying Shakespeare's plays at a university in 1930s Berlin, experiences antisemitism firsthand when he is beaten up his fellow students. When Paul recovers consciousness he discovers he is no longer in Berlin. He's in Elizabethean England, where the up-and-coming playwright who is the subject of Paul's thesis is working on a new play: The Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare has nothing personal against Jews. But a former Portuguese Jew named Roderigo Lopez has been accused of trying to poision the queen and the country is furious. With Shakespeare's manager and the theatre-going mob demanding a new play that will vilify the Jews - Marlowe's The Jew of Malta was a huge success - what can he do?

What can he do?

That is the question, for Shakespeare - and Paul Hoffman - as they watch their society devolve into mindless hatred and violence.