Is placing a child with a foot in each of two worlds, two cultures, two religions a mistake? That’s the question author Mara Schiffren sets out to answer in her historical fiction, The Mistake: The Marcus Chronicles, the first book in a series.
The Mistake is set in the days of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 138, and features Marcus, the son of an observant Jewish mother and a Roman soldier father.
Marcus is raised by his mother to follow the rules of Judaism, including kashrut, at home, while outside of it, he lives the life of a dutiful Roman son, being groomed to join the army so he can attain full citizenship, something that would never be open to him otherwise as the son of a Jew.
Marcus often finds himself wondering why and how his warring parents ever came together in the first place. By the time he is old enough to notice, they fight constantly, prompting Marcus to think of the biblical Isaac and Rebecca, who battled over which of their two sons would inherit, and to wonder “if they got along at that point.”
But the story of Isaac and Rebecca, a recurring theme in The Mistake, was about twin sons, while Marcus is only one boy, constantly asked to pledge his allegiance to one side or the other.
“What are you, Marcus?” he is taunted. “Lion or eagle?” And Marcus thinks, “What was he? Who was he? He had no idea.”
From his mother’s brother, Marcus learns that there’s “a rebellion against Rome simmering among the Jews that his uncle supported tactically and financially.”
He is advised, “When Hadrian fails to keep his promise to rebuild the Temple, as we suspect he will, we’ll have enough weapons to fight them and take Jerusalem back.”
It’s a fight that will likely include Marcus’s father — for the Romans’ side. And, if he goes along with his father’s wishes, Marcus himself.
Marcus thinks “The tricky thing was that he needed to keep protecting all three of them… They were three sides of a triangle. And he was the one keeping them aloft.”
As both sides prepare for inevitable conflict, Marcus is reminded that “What serves one’s nation does not always serve one’s family…Be careful, lest you find yourself neither in one place nor the other.”
It’s a position in which many young people find themselves today, caught between two worlds, two thousand years later, and the question Schiffren asks is one that The Mistake: The Marcus Chronicles Book 1 only begins to ask, without coming close to answering. No one has answered it yet.
Alina Adams is the NYT bestselling author of soap opera tie-ins, figure skating mysteries and romance novels. Her Regency romance, The Fictitious Marquis was named a first Jewish #OwnVoices Historical by The Romance Writers of America. Her Soviet-set historical fiction includes The Nesting Dolls, My Mother’s Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region, and the May 2025 Go On Pretending. More at: www.AlinaAdams.com.
