She is known as one of the first Yiddish poets to use the sonnet form; and her stories, which were less well received than her poems in her lifetime, have since been recognized as innovative for their exploration of subjectivity, and, in particular, for their depiction of Jewish female characters at odds with traditional roles and expectations.

[2][3][4] Fradl Shtok was born in the shtetl, or small town, of Skala, in eastern Galicia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today in Ukraine).

[1][3] Shtok was a talented student, played the violin, and could recite from the works of the classic German poets Goethe and Schiller.

Beginning in 1910, she published poems and stories in Yiddish periodicals and anthologies, mostly in publications of the literary group known as Di Yunge.

[6] A review in the New York Times criticized the novel for its "remarkably bad" writing but still admitted that it "assumes over the reader an unwilling fascination" thanks to its emotional authenticity.