Leonora Galigai by Historian Yaara Bar-On

From Haaretz Daily Newspaper:

Historian Yaara Bar-On goes back to the 17th century to tell the story of Leonora Galigai, the Jewish companion of the queen of France. Her tale reflects the feminist struggle across the ages and into our own day

Galigai is at the center of a new book, "A 'Jewish Witch' in the Court of Louis XIII, King of France: The Trial of Leonora Galigai, 1617" (Carmel Publishing; Hebrew), by the historian Yaara Bar-On, the deputy president for academic affairs at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

It's a story of high drama, complete with a show trial, rampant prejudice, court intrigues, struggles between men and women, between princes and servants. Among the issues the writer examines are xenophobia, misogyny, the power of gossip and other phenomena that are still very much with us today. Above all, though, the book brings alive the 17th century in a way that reconfirms the relevance of its history for our own time.