Gittle, A Girl of the Steppes by Estelle Rubin Brager

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Gittle, A Girl of the Steppes was inspired by the handwritten memoirs of the author’s grandmother, a spirited Jewish woman who grew up in 19th century Ukraine, then controlled by Russia. Gittle is only 10 months old when the family sleigh overturns in the wintry countryside and her mother is killed. Gittle is found alive, rescued from wolves, and becomes her father’s favorite, educated beyond the norm for girls in those times. But at sixteen, she loses her father and submits to his dying wish that she join his wealthy cousin’s household. Although the family welcomes her, she is almost raped by a member of the household. She barely escapes and on her way home, meets a traveling mill salesman who becomes smitten with her. His family sends a matchmaker to arrange a match, and once Gittle and Yacov are married, they move to his hometown, a village just south of Kiev. The people who fill Gittle’s world range far beyond shtetl folk and her own growing brood. Her husband’s cousin, a noted dressmaker to the Russian court, is one of few Jews permitted to reside in Kiev, and she shows Gittle around that historic city. There, Gittle comes into contact with some of Russia’s pleasure-loving aristocrats clinging to their outmoded privileges. For Gittle and her family, however, life in Russia under Czar Nicholas’ persecution of the Jews grows increasingly dangerous. To raise money for their escape from Russia, Gittle makes the risky decision to sell moonshine whiskey to the peasants. She is caught by the authorities and imprisoned. Gittle’s story is a gripping tale of one woman’s struggle to survive in Czarist Russia.