A panoramic portrait of a remarkable woman and the tumultuous Victorian era on which she made her mark, The First Lady of Fleet Street chronicles the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Rachel Beer—indomitable heiress, social crusader, and newspaper pioneer. Rich with period detail and drawing on a wealth of original material, this sweeping work of never-before-told history recounts the ascent of two of London’s most prominent Jewish immigrant families—the Sassoons and the Beers. Born into one, Rachel married into the other, wedding newspaper proprietor Frederick Beer, the sole heir to his father’s enormous fortune. Though she and Frederick became leading London socialites, Rachel was ambitious and unwilling to settle for a comfortable, idle life. She used her husband’s platform to assume the editorship of not one but two venerable Sunday newspapers—the Sunday Times and The Observer—a stunning accomplishment at a time when women were denied the vote and allowed little access to education. Ninety years would pass before another woman would take the helm of a major newspaper on either side of the Atlantic. It was an exhilarating period in London’s history—fortunes were being amassed (and squandered), masterpieces were being created, and new technologies were revolutionizing daily life. But with scant access to politicians and press circles, most female journalists were restricted to issuing fashion reports and dispatches from the social whirl. Rachel refused to limit herself or her beliefs. In the pages of her newspapers, she opined on Whitehall politics and British imperial adventures abroad, campaigned for women’s causes, and doggedly pursued the evidence that would exonerate an unjustly accused French military officer in the so-called Dreyfus Affair. But even as she successfully blazed a trail in her professional life, Rachel’s personal travails were the stuff of tragedy. Her marriage to Frederick drove an insurmountable wedge between herself and her conservative family. Ultimately, she was forced to retreat from public life entirely, living out the rest of her days in stately isolation. While the men of her era may have grabbed more headlines, Rachel Beer remains a pivotal figure in the annals of journalism—and the long march toward equality between the sexes. With The First Lady of Fleet Street, she finally gets the front page treatment she deserves.

The First Lady of Fleet Street: The Life of Rachel Beer: Crusading Heiress and Newspaper Pioneer

Biographies & Memoirs

Koren, Yehuda

Negev, Eilat

Community & Culture

Bantam]

A moving, powerful tale of survival under the most extreme circumstances recalls the experiences of the Ovitz family--a troupe of performing dwarves, all relatives, who were deported to Auschwitz, but managed to stay alive, despite special attention from the camp's Angel of Death, Joseph Mengele.

In Our Hearts We Were Giants: The Remarkable Story of the Lilliput Troupe--A Dwarf Family's Survival of the Holocaust

Humor & Entertainment

Da Capo Press

This remarkable, never-before-told account of the Ovitz family, seven of whose ten members were dwarfs, bears witness to the best and worst of humanity and to the terrible irony of the Ovitzes' fate: being burdened with dwarfism helped them endure the Holocaust. Through dogged research and interviews with Perla, the youngest Ovitz daughter and last surviving sibling, and other relatives, authors Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev weave the tale of a beloved and successful family of performers who were popular entertainers in Central Europe until the Nazis deported them to Auschwitz in May 1944. Descending from the transport train into the hell of the concentration camp, the Ovitz family—known widely as the Lilliput Troupe—was separated from other Jewish victims. When Dr. Josef Mengele was then notified of their arrival, he assigned them to sequestered quarters. His horrific "research" on twins and other genetically unique individuals already under way, Mengele had special plans for the Ovitzes. The authors chronicle Mengele's loathsome experiments upon the family members, the disturbing fondness he developed for these small people, and their interminable will to make it out alive. Dozens of telling photographs are included in this horrifying yet remarkable tale of survival.

In Our Hearts We Were Giants: The Remarkable Story of the Lilliput Troupe: A Dwarf Family's Survival of the Holocaust

Da Capo

The failure of the marriage between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes has always been considered from one of two conflicting viewpoints: hers or his. Missing for more than four decades has been a third perspective on the events that brought their marriage to its ill-fated end, the story of another—the other—woman: Hughes’ mistress Assia Wevill. Like Plath before her, Assia shared her life with Hughes for seven years, until she took her own life and that of their daughter at the age of forty-two, in a manner that nearly replicated Plath’s suicide six years earlier. Drawing on previously unavailable documents and private papers, including Assia’s diaries and her intimate correspondence with Hughes, this book shows the vital influence Assia exerted on the poet and his work, and the uneasy life they shared under the long shadow of Plath. A Lover of Unreason is the first-ever full-length biography of Assia Wevill. It casts a keen light, and explores the emergence of a singular twentieth-century woman. Three-times divorcée, career woman, mistress, and single mother, Assia Wevill openly defied the conventions of a censorious pre-feminist Britain and mesmerized men and women alike with her quick-mind and exotic beauty.

Lover of Unreason: Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes' Doomed Love

Arts & Literature

Carroll&Graf

My true wife and the best friend I ever had,” wrote Ted Hughes after Assia Wevill's 1969 suicide. Long seen as the woman who lured Hughes away from Sylvia Plath, Wevill has remained a mysterious figure. Now, for the first time Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev tell the story of Wevill's remarkable life and the seven years she spent with Hughes before killing herself, and their daughter, in a manner that inevitably recalled Plath's suicide six years earlier. Drawing on previously unavailable papers, including Wevill's diaries and intimate correspondence with Hughes, Koren and Negev offer a gripping portrayal of the uneasy life the couple shared under Plath's long shadow.

Close Encounters with Twenty Israeli Writers

This collection of biographies is the first of its kind, as Israeli literature is almost devoid of author biographies. They are arranged chronologically and cover a hundred years of Israeli literature; the change of style and subject matter hints at the demographical and historical transformations that have occurred during this span of time. The profiles are based on interviews carried out with all the living writers, or - in the case of deceased ones - with family members, biographers and researchers. In the early days of the State, Jaffa oranges were the pride export of Israel; and then came diamonds; and, nowadays, it is books. Israelis are going through dramatic, turbulent events, experiencing an existential, social and religious crisis. This intense life means that Israelis occupy several layers of existence, which create many kinds of personal experiences that writers in other countries seldom experience. Thus, a reading of the writers' profiles offers a different way of viewing Israel, since each writer has taken a part in events outside his or her own personal scope. All this becomes their subject matter, and Israel writing provides a wide panorama not just of literature but also of Israeli life.

Vallentine, Mitchell

Giants: the Dwarfs of Auschwitz In this remarkable, never-before-told account of the Ovitz family, seven of whose ten members were dwarves, readers bear witness to the terrible irony of the Ovitz's fate: being burdened with dwarfism helped them to endure the Holocaust. Full description

Giants: the Dwarfs of Auschwitz: The Extraordinary Story of the Lilliput Troupe

Robson Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Negev, Eilat. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Negev, Eilat

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Negev, Eilat. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The First Lady of Fleet Street: The Life of Rachel Beer: Crusading Heiress and Newspaper Pioneer

In Our Hearts We Were Giants: The Remarkable Story of the Lilliput Troupe--A Dwarf Family's Survival of the Holocaust

In Our Hearts We Were Giants: The Remarkable Story of the Lilliput Troupe: A Dwarf Family's Survival of the Holocaust

Lover of Unreason: Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes' Doomed Love

Lover of Unreason: Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes' Doomed Love

Close Encounters with Twenty Israeli Writers

Close Encounters with Twenty Israeli Writers

Giants: the Dwarfs of Auschwitz: The Extraordinary Story of the Lilliput Troupe