The Agunah is a 1974 English translation by Curt Leviant of the 1961 Yiddish novel Di Agune (די עגונה) by Chaim Grade.

The woman in the novel is not interested in remarrying, but eventually, between pressure from her family and to escape an obnoxious suitor, she accepts the marriage proposal of a minor acquaintance.

They find a maverick rabbi who is willing to grant permission, and the two marry in secret and move to a part of Vilna where nobody knows them.

But the secret comes out, and the resulting controversy, fanned by the obnoxious suitor, sends the community into a tumult.

It is wry yet alarming insight into what happens when a community is divided over religion and religious interpretation.