Naomi Ragen Standalone Novels books in order

Standalone novels by Naomi Ragen exploring the lives of Orthodox Jewish women, arranged marriage, religious tradition, and the search for personal freedom.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Jephte’s Daughter 1988 Naomi Ragen Buy
2 Sotah 1992 Naomi Ragen Buy
3 A Woman Under Suspicion 1992 Naomi Ragen Buy
4 The Sacrifice of Tamar 1994 Naomi Ragen Buy
5 The Ghost of Hannah Mendes 1998 Naomi Ragen Buy
6 Chains Around the Grass 2001 Naomi Ragen Buy
7 The Covenant 2004 Naomi Ragen Buy
8 The Saturday Wife 2007 Naomi Ragen Buy
9 The Tenth Song 2010 Naomi Ragen Buy
10 The Sisters Weiss 2012 Naomi Ragen Buy
11 The Devil in Jerusalem 2015 Naomi Ragen Buy
12 An Unorthodox Match 2019 Naomi Ragen Buy
13 An Observant Wife 2021 Naomi Ragen Buy
14 The Enemy Beside Me 2023 Naomi Ragen Buy

Naomi Ragen’s fourteen standalone novels span thirty-five years and explore Jewish life from multiple angles. Her early books — Jephte’s Daughter, Sotah, The Sacrifice of Tamar — focus on women trapped by the strictest interpretations of Orthodox Judaism, and they earned Ragen a reputation as a fearless critic of religious patriarchy.

Her middle-period novels like The Ghost of Hannah Mendes and Chains Around the Grass take on broader historical themes while maintaining her interest in Jewish identity and family. More recent books, including The Enemy Beside Me and An Observant Wife, continue to grapple with faith, community, and what it means to be a Jewish woman in a changing world. Ragen’s novels are informed by her own life in Jerusalem and read as both fiction and cultural testimony.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Naomi Ragen Standalone Novels series?

There are fourteen books in the Naomi Ragen Standalone Novels series, published between 1988 and 2023.

What is the first book in the Naomi Ragen Standalone Novels series?

The first book in the Naomi Ragen Standalone Novels series is Jephte’s Daughter, published in 1988.

Which Naomi Ragen novel should I read first?

Start with Jephte’s Daughter, her debut — it’s the book that established her reputation and remains her most talked-about work. For a more recent entry point, An Unorthodox Match offers a warmer story about a widow and widower finding love within Orthodox traditions.

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