ABSTRACT
The novel Love of the Righteous, or, the Persecuted Families by Sarah Feiga Meinkin which was published in Vilnius in 1881 was, as far as is known, the first Hebrew novel written by a woman, and the only Hebrew novel written by a woman in the 19th century. The plot of Love of the Righteous takes place in Milan in 1861, the year of the declaration of the independent Kingdom of Italy. It tells the story of two Jewish lovers whose families were persecuted in their places of origins: Finalia Adelberg, the daughter of a French-Jewish Baron, whose family found refuge in Milan after the military coup of Napoleon III, and Victor Sheinfeld, who arrived in Milan from Rome after the Papal State authorities had arrested his father and seized the family’s property. In choosing Victor, Finalia dismisses the social convention whereby a man’s worth is measured by his family’s lineage.
