The Grey Wig is a novel written by I. Zangwill. The story revolves around characters including Madame Dépine and Madame Valière who were tenants at the Hôtel des Tourterelles in Paris. Practically it was two old maids whose boots turned pointed toes towards each other in the dark cranny of the fusty corridor of the sky floor. Madame la Propriétaire and Madame Dépine were neighbors at the Hôtel des Tourterelles in Paris. But they never spoke to each other, for they disliked each other so much it was impossible to bear to look at each other. For years, their most cherished dream had been to gracefully don a grey wig. But how could a helpless elderly woman possibly save enough money for a new wig? Cry for the moon or some artificial teeth, if you must. Unless the lottery, that is. Both of them were made to blush by Madame la Propriétaire. The old ladies' hired pillows were saturated with tears of embarrassment and pain. Madame Dépine had learned to wear her wig with vengeful endurance over time, whereas Madame Valière had learned to wear hers with a serene resignation.
I. Zangwill was a British novelist and close friend of Theodor Herzl who lived from 21 January 1864 to 1 August 1926. He was a pioneer of cultural Zionism throughout the 19th century. Later, he abandoned the idea of seeking a Jewish homeland in Palestine and emerged as the movement's leading theorist. Zangwill was born in a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire on January 21, 1864, in London. His mother, Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill, was from Poland, while his father, Moses Zangwill, was from what is now Latvia. He dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of those he saw as downtrodden, becoming involved in issues like women's suffrage, territorialism, Zionism, and Jewish emancipation. Louis Zangwill, a novelist, was his brother. Zangwill attended schools in Plymouth and Bristol for his early education. Zangwill entered the Jews' Free School in Spitalfields, east London when he was nine years old; it was a school for children of Jewish immigrants. The school provided its students with a rigorous curriculum that included secular and theological studies as well as clothing, food, and medical care; currently, one of its four houses is called Zangwill in his honor.
