num_pages: 320
description: Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of the seventeenth century, Jacob, a slave and cowherd in a Polish village high in the mountains, falls in love with Wanda, his master's daughter. Even after he is ransomed, he finds he can't live without her, and the two escape together to a distant Jewish community. Racked by his consciousness of sin in taking a Gentile wife and by the difficulties of concealing her identity, Jacob nonetheless stands firm as the violence of the era threatens to destroy the ill-fated couple. 
language: English
title: The Slave
titlecomplete: The Slave
genres: Jewish, Historical Fiction, Nobel Prize, Historical, Polish Literature, Novels, Poland, Literature, Classics, Fiction
ratings_count: 3505
places: Poland
awards: awardedAt: -220896000000
name: National Jewish Book Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux