Zalman, a poor and miserable Jewish apprentice blacksmith in a small grim town in 18th century Poland, believes that he has received the greatest miracle imaginable: the most beautiful and wealthy woman in his town, the young widow Raizel, inexplicably chooses him as her bridegroom. But after the wedding, she leads him into dark alleys of corruption and sin. Matters are only made worse as his new station in life entangles Zalman in the affairs of a local nobleman who has dabbled in black magic.
But then he makes a pilgrimage to the famed mystical Hasidic master, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, who reveals a tangled and dark web of heresy, secret followers of the false Messiah Sabbatai Zevi, incest, and reincarnation. And then Zalman must try to see if he can escape.
Drawing from Eastern European Jewish folklore and history, the medieval legend of the incestuous Pope Gregorius, and the traditions of the gothic novel, The Holy Sinner is a tale of faith, heresy, betrayal, and revenge.