...This book explores the lives of two remarkable Jewish women in nineteenth-century France: Herminie Rodrigues, born in 1805, and Fanny Pereire, born in 1825. Herminie and Fanny Pereire, Jewish women of Sephardic origin in France, stand at the intersection of multiple strands of history...

...This chapter draws out the significance of charity and philanthropy in the lives of the very wealthy Herminie and Fanny Pereire. And it is noticeable that in their acts of generosity, the two women covered the gamut of possibilities as they unfolded over the nineteenth century: extending kindness...

...Herminie and Fanny Pereire were sisters-in-law, married to the eminent Jewish bankers and Saint-Simonian socialists Emile and Isaac. They were also mother and daughter. This book, a companion to the author's acclaimed Emile and Isaac Pereire, sheds new light on elite Jewish families...

... accordingly was a continuing and necessary task. Herminie and Fanny Pereire were also individual consumers, and their conspicuous consumption added to the mystique of these women and to their families. In summary, women of the grande bourgeoisie were expected to present themselves fashionably...

...This chapter looks at the evolution of Herminie and Fanny Pereire's relation to religious practice and the manner in which they defined their identity, a journey in which acculturation and embourgeoisement led them both, albeit differently, to an accommodation, of being both French...

...This book proposes that Herminie (1805-74) and Fanny Pereire (1825-1910) played essential but often unremarked roles in the lives and the ultimately spectacular businesses of their husbands, respectively, Emile and Isaac Pereire. For Herminie and Fanny not only provided a family life...