And There Was Light

Oh, God, her mind screamed in a silent prayer. . . . Malka, at 18, pretty and tortured by low self-esteem, makes the biggest mistake of her life by allowing her family to dictate when and who she should marry. Struggling with the practices of her orthodox Jewish faith, she alienates her family. An unlikely mentor, Ariana, a high-paid model who lives in Greenwich Village, steps in to help her with her metamorphosis from the plain caterpillar to a rebellious butterfly. Malka becomes Marci as she copes with her stern father, an unknown secular world, the possibility of having AIDS, and her failed marriage and susequent courtship.