Leah Mordecai

'Leah Mordecai' is a novel by Belle Kendrick Abbott. It is a coming-of-age story set in Charleston, South Carolina, shortly before the American Civil War. The title character, who is Jewish, finds herself subjected to scorn and abuse by the jealous and grasping woman who marries her widowed father, a wealthy banker. Seeking relief from her unhappiness, Leah only engenders further distress when, upon entering into marriage with an importunate gentile, she incurs the violent wrath of her father.