"Who is Guilty?" and
"The Woman in Chains"
About Sarah Brandstein Smith (1888 - 1968)
She was born in Hungary and came to the US when she was 15-years old. She learned the Yiddish language in New York. Before long she landed a job as a newspaper writer.
In addition to her newspaper column, she wrote several shund roman in Yiddish as well as plays for the Yiddish theater. She also wrote in English. The English language play, "Piper Paid" had a run on Broadway in 1934. Another play, "Ever the Beginning" became a movie called "My Girl Tisa" with big-name stars in 1948.
To my knowledge none of her Yiddish works have been translated into English until now.
For more information about Sarah B. Smith visit the Jewish Women's Archive
The Queen of the Trashy Novel
Smith's fascination with the seamy side of city life led her to write several novels in the genre known as the Shund Roman, the Trashy Novel.
It is easy to disparage the shund roman as too low-brow to deserve study or consideration, however the stories of adventure and romance provided an important outlet for the immigrants who worked long hours for little money to survive in the new world.