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Fiction

The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz

The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz

By Michelle Cameron

Simon & Schuster, September 8, 2009

ISBN: 9781439118221

Raised by her widowed rabbi father and a Christian nursemaid in Normandy, Shira is a free-spirited, inquisitive girl whose love of learning shocks the community. But in Meir ben Baruch, a brilliant scholar, she finds her soul mate and a window on the world of Talmudic scholarship that fascinates her.

Married to Meir in Paris, Shira blossoms as a wife and mother, savoring the intellectual and social challenges that come with being the wife of a prominent scholar. After every copy of the Talmud in Paris is confiscated and burned, Shira and her family seek refuge in Germany. Yet even there they experience bloody pogroms and intensifying hatred. As Shira weathers heartbreak and works to find a middle ground between two warring religions, she shows her children and grandchildren how to embrace the joys of life, both secular and religious.

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Click here to read a review of The Fruit of Her Hands by Reading the Past

Click here to read another review of The Fruit of Her Hands by Genre Go Round

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Click here to read an interview with Michelle Cameron by Writer’s Daily Grind



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