Queen Esther (2025) is a novel by John Irving. It is a multi-generational literary saga that begins with Esther Nacht, a Jewish orphan rescued from antisemitic violence in early 20th-century Vienna and raised by the Winslows, a liberal New England family. Sprawling across the 20th century until 1981, Queen Esther tracks the fortunes of the charismatic Esther and her biological son, Jimmy, adopted by the Winslows, as they balance duty, identity, and selfhood. The novel explores themes such as Chosen Family Versus Inherited Family Bonds, Survival and Identity in the Face of Prejudice, and The Transformative Power of Literature.

This study guide uses the 2025 Scribner UK paperback version.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of religious discrimination, racism, sexual violence, pregnancy termination, sexual content, substance use, and death.

Language Note: The guide retains the novel’s use of the term “orphan.”

Plot Summary

When Thomas and Constance Winslow, a progressive couple from Pennacook, New Hampshire, have a fourth daughter when they are nearly 40, they set out looking for an au pair. As per their practice with each of their children, the Winslows want to informally adopt a ward of state, educating the young woman in return for her services as a nanny. The search for an au pair lands the Winslows at St. Cloud’s, a children’s shelter run by the eccentric physician, Dr. Wilbur Larch.

Impressed by the liberal world-view and philanthropy of the Winslows, Larch suggests they adopt the unusual Esther Nacht, a precocious 14-year-old left at his doorstep when she was a small child. Esther, who is Jewish, has been impossible to place. Her parents moved to the US to escape the growing antisemitism in Austria, but her father died on the ship itself, while Esther’s mother was murdered shortly after her arrival in America.

The Winslows immediately take to the tall, stately, and bright Esther, bringing her home, where she is to look after Honor, their youngest daughter. Esther, who is aware of her Jewish heritage, plans to go to Vienna and Germany one day to rediscover her roots. The Winslows ensure Esther connects with Jewish families in their circle so she can find a cultural community. As the years pass and Honor grows up, she and Esther arrive at an unexpected pact. Honor, who is not interested in sex or childbirth, asks Esther to have a baby for her. Esther readily agrees.

In 1934, When Honor is 14, Esther leaves for Vienna, Austria, where she helps a social democrat couple smuggle Jewish families to safety across the border. By 1937, it becomes clear that Vienna is extremely dangerous for Jewish people. Esther moves to Haifa (in modern-day Israel) where she meets a wrestler called Moshe Kleinberg. Esther’s letters to Honor suggest that she intends for Moshe to be the father of her child.

In late 1940, Esther travels back to Pennacook to give birth to a son, whom she and Honor name James. Esther returns to Haifa, leaving James, nicknamed “Jimmy,” to be raised by the Winslows. As Esther joins the Zionist forces in Jerusalem, her letters home become increasingly guarded, sent from a series of shifting addresses.

The narrative focus shifts to Jimmy, a conscientious child doted upon by the older Winslows and Honor and her sisters, Prudence, Hope, and Faith. After news of the Holocaust reaches Pennacook, the Winslows tell Jimmy about his birth mother and her Jewish heritage. Jimmy grows up deeply attached to Thomas and decides to become a novelist. He travels to Vienna in 1963 for his year abroad to pick up German, his chosen foreign language. It is clear Jimmy wants to follow in Esther’s footsteps in the hope of finding his identity.

Although Esther is away from the Winslows, she continues to influence their lives, such as finding Jimmy an empathetic tutor in the Jewish-German Annelies. Meanwhile, with the Vietnam War on the horizon, Honor becomes fearful that Jimmy will be drafted into service. Her research indicates that parents, including single fathers, can be exempt from the draft. Honor writes to Jimmy that he should plan to get a woman pregnant in Vienna to take advantage of the loophole.

In Vienna, Jimmy becomes friends with a Frenchman called Claude and a Dutch girl called Jolanda, all three of them placed with the local Holzinger family. Irmgard, the unmarried Holzinger daughter, has a five-year-old son called Siegfried. As Claude and Jolanda learn of Honor’s proposal for Jimmy, they try to find a mother for Jimmy’s child. They ultimately settle on Mieke, Jolanda’s ex-girlfriend. Although Mieke, like Jolanda, is gay, she agrees to bear Jimmy a child to help him out.

Tensions rise in Vienna when Jolanda is stalked by the criminal gang of the husband of Hildegund, a woman she briefly saw while broken up with Mieke. Hildegund is angry with Jolanda since Jolanda and Claude took away her abused dog, Hard Rain. The gang attacks Jolanda, a couple of men attempting to sexually assault her. However, with the help of Jimmy’s local wrestler teammates, the friends beat up Hildegund’s thugs. The incident catalyzes Jimmy to take charge of his own life. He has sex with Mieke in Jolanda’s presence so they can conceive a child, marries Mieke in a civil ceremony in Amsterdam, and cooks up a story so he can gift Hard Rain to Siegfried.

His Vienna year ended, Jimmy returns to the US to give Honor the news that Mieke is now pregnant with his child. However, Jimmy receives the somber news that Connie has suffered a fall and is comatose, while Thomas has had a stroke which has left him unable to speak. Jimmy visits his grandfather in the hospital, reading aloud to him the draft of his first novel, The Dickens Man, the protagonist of which is based on Thomas. Thomas weeps in joy when he hears the draft. When Connie dies shortly afterwards, Thomas refuses food, and passes away within days of his beloved wife.

Jimmy’s daughter is born in 1965, and he names her Vienna. Jimmy becomes a successful novelist, publishing several books. Vienna grows up surrounded by her father and several doting maternal figures in the form of Honor and her sisters. In 1981, Jimmy is invited to the Jerusalem International Book Fair. He writes to Esther, hoping he can finally see her, but Esther is non-committal as always. In Jerusalem, Jimmy is saddened to see the polarized opinions of the Israelis and the Palestinians. He fears the conflict will never end.

He is nearly at the end of his visit when Esther finally shows up at his last book signing. Esther has lost her right hand in combat, yet she cuts a towering figure. She meets Jimmy, but when a journalist calls Jimmy her son, based on their resemblance, Esther corrects him that Jimmy is the child of a dear friend.

Later, she tells Jimmy that he is “Honor’s child.” Jimmy finally understands that Esther has stayed away from him to avoid drawing him into conflict. She loves him very much, which is why, like all loving parents, she has been afraid for Jimmy. Jimmy realizes he will always have the heart of Queen Esther.