The Life of Gluckel of Hameln: A Memoir

A fascinating memoir of one of Judaism's earliest female writers, translated from the original Yiddish Gluckel of Hameln was a marvel of her time: an accomplished businesswoman as well as the mother of twelve. Devastated by the death of her beloved husband in 1689, she proceeded to write the riveting memoir that would become a timeless classic, revealing much about Jewish life in seventeenth-century Germany. This volume also features an introduction by translator Beth-Zion Abrahams that provides a fuller background of the author's life and tells how Gluckel came to write the memoir that would provide insight for centuries to come into Jewish, European, and women's history. Gluckel (1646-1724) was born to a prominent family in Hamburg, Germany. At the age of fourteen, she was married to a wealthy gems dealer in an arranged marriage and became his business and financial adviser while bearing and raising their twelve children. She continued to manage his enterprises even after his death in 1689, until her second husband, a successful banker, lost all their money, and her life ended in near poverty.