Today’s Jewish Birthday: Grace Aguilar

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Grace Aguilar (Photo: Wikipedia)

Grace Aguilar (June 2, 1816 – 16 September 1847) was an English novelist, poet, and writer on Jewish history and religion. Although she had been writing since childhood, much of her work was published posthumously. Among those are her best-known works, the novels Home Influence and A Mother’s Recompense.

Aguilar was the eldest child of Sephardic Jewish refugees from Portugal who settled in the London Borough of Hackney. An early illness resulted in her being educated by her parents, especially her mother, who taught her the tenets of Judaism. Later, her father taught the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jews during his bout with tuberculosis which had led the family to move to the English coast. After surviving measles at 19, she began a serious writing career, even though her physical health never completely recovered.

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Tomorrow: Allen Ginsberg