Shira of Ashkenaz

Sample from the Novel Key Historical Events Family Tree Sign Up for Updates

In the Shadow of the Globe

Shira of Ashkenaz

The Jewish poet Süßkind of Trimberg (ca. 1230 - ca. 1300)

In 1242, Shira of Rothenberg stands close enough to be scorched by the flames as every Talmud in all of medieval France is burned in a massive bonfire. Her family is touched by bloody pogroms in England and Germany, and she endures seven years of loneliness when her husband, the illustrious rabbi Meir ben Baruch, is jailed for trying to flee Emperor Rudolph II.

What would break a lesser woman makes Shira more resolute. She fosters a family heritage of learning and a love of storytelling that has emboldened me, Meir’s direct descendent, to write about this couple in a historical novel, Shira of Ashkenaz.

The novel, represented by Judith Riven of the Judith Riven LIterary Agency, has been accepted for publication by Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Publication is slated for the autumn of 2009.