Interview with Maggie Anton

MAGGIE ANTON, author of a number of novels about PaleoJudaic women, is interviewed by David Crumpler at jacskonville.com: Author of historical novels to speak at Jacksonville Jewish Center. Maggie Anton's 2 most recent books inspired by ancient Jewish magic. Excerpt, with reference to one of her earlier books, Rav Hisda's Daughter:

The daughter’s name is Hisdadukh [in the novel].

The Talmud just calls her Rav Hisda’s daughter. … One of the things I found from looking at these incantation bowls where they all name the clients was that a lot of the women, maybe a quarter or a third of the female clients, their name was something or other “dukh,” which is ancient Persian for daughter. They were named after their father, so I thought Hisdadukh was actually her name.

My daughter said, “Oh, that’s a terrible name, nobody can pronounce it, you’ve got to give her a nickname.” But I said that’s probably her name. I try to be really accurate and authentic. I did give her a nickname at my daughter’s insistence. I called her “Dada,” which is also a name I saw on an incantation bowl. Anyway, that’s what I ended up having the family call her, just to make it easier on my poor readers.

For much more on this and her other novels, go here and follow the links all the way back to 2006.