In Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, Hector says: "The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." I get that sort of buzz when I come across a Jewish character in a book, especially if the writer isn't Jewish. It's like an acknowledgement of my existence from outside the circle, and it makes me feel included.

I'm currently reading The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, and as I was stumbling through this labyrinth of back and forth, past and present, I came across a character whose parents were Holocaust survivors, whose father anglicised his surname 'Cohen', and whose whole family reverberated with memories of the camps. The explanation of the family was handled with such delicacy and care that one might wonder whether Rushdie had interviewed survivors, or the children of survivors, in order to maintain authenticity. The best thing about this character is that her Judaism is largely incidental. Her role in the narrative does not depend on her religion, but her personality, manifesting itself (as all of our personalities do) in choices and behaviours, is greatly informed by her parents' history and her upbringing. She's a real Jew, not a caricature.

I've been racking my brains to think of another character in a book who fills this framework – Jewish, but genuine. I have to say, I haven't been able to find one. Daniel Deronda hardly counts, and neither can Mirah Lapidoth or Mordecai Cohen. As sensitively portrayed as these characters are (although I know many would disagree with me – but that's an argument for another time), their Judaism is an inherent part of their engagement with the narrative. The novel is about them as Jews. Similarly, Riah in Our Mutual Friend (a much more disingenuous, suspicious depiction of a Jew, if you ask me) is definitively Jewish, and there's not much more to him. His struggle against antisemitism is certainly poignant, but Dickens was still completely unable to draw his humanity as distinct from his religion. And then there's JK Rowling's Anthony Goldstein, but he's really just a name who pops up to fulfil a quota.

Perhaps I just haven't read enough yet to be aware of all the Rushdie-style Jewish characters that are out there. I can't be sure. But it frustrates me that most of what I've read seems to be either about Jews or not, with no in between stage where Jews are shown to be getting on with entirely secular things in a secular way. I don't want to believe that they're rare because to many non-Jews, being Jewish is a very finite characteristic, enough to build a story on in itself. But perhaps that's the case – and if I were to decide upon a Christian character in my own writing, maybe that Christianity would reverberate more than a Christian reader would think necessary.

But hope is not lost, for Rushdie proves an alternative exists. If anyone has any recommendations for me, please let me know. It's getting me down a bit.

Noa Gendler has just graduated from the University of Cambridge, where she studied English Literature. Before that she attended North London Collegiate School. She is a seasoned Limmudnik and is involved in Marom, the Masorti young adult community.She previously wrote for the JC's Student Views blog