Maria Polack
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Whitechapel
Maria Polack | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 January 1787 |
| Died | 8 January 1849 (aged 61) Whitechapel |
| Occupation | Teacher of music and poetry |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Notable works | Fiction without Romance (1830) |
Maria Polack (31 January 1787 – 8 January 1849[1]) was an English Jewish novelist and educator. Her father, Ephraim Polack,[2] was a prominent member of the Great Synagogue of London,[3] and her niece (or perhaps daughter), Elizabeth Polack, was the first Jewish woman melodramatist in England.[4]
In 1830 Polack published by subscription the two-volume anti-romance Fiction without Romance, or The Locket Watch, which focuses on the importance of female education and respecting religious and class differences.[5][6][7] The novel depicts a gentile family in Devonshire, a member of whom, Eliza Desbro, encounters a sympathetic Jewish family after discovering her status as a bastard.[8][9] The one-hundred and twenty subscribers to Polack's book included John Braham (two copies), Mrs Nathan Rothschild (five copies), and members of the Goldsmid family (six copies).[10] A second, non-subscriber edition was published two years after the first edition.[11]
