The Marriage of Opposites - Softcover

Hoffman, Alice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1451693605 ISBN 13: 9781451693607

Publisher: Atria Books, 2016

Synopsis

"A luminous, Marquez-esque tale" (O, The Oprah Magazine) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Museum of Extraordinary Things a forbidden love story set on a tropical island about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro--the Father of Impressionism.

Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel's mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refuses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel's salvation is their maid Adelle's belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jestine, Adelle's daughter. But Rachel's life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father's business. When her older husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family, including her favorite son, who will become one of the greatest artists of France.

"A work of art" (Dallas Morning News), The Marriage of Opposites showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman at the height of her considerable powers. "Her lush, seductive prose, and heart-pounding subject...make this latest skinny-dip in enchanted realism...the Platonic ideal of the beach read" (Slate.com). Once forgotten to history, the marriage of Rachel and Frédérick "will only renew your commitment to Hoffman's astonishing storytelling" (USA TODAY).

About this title

Review:

‘What is it that makes American authors excel at depicting marriage? Alice Hoffman’s The Marriage of Opposites is one of the best novels on the subject . . . not least because the opposites of its title embrace not just gender but race, class and religion . . . Hoffman’s sensuous prose is ideally suited to describing the landscape . . . As intoxicating as the finest island rum’  (Independent on The Marriage of Opposites)

‘Hoffman is a master of evocatively described places . . . This captivating novel transports the reader to a sensual world of lush tropical landscapes, colonial opulence and conflicted passions’  (The Lady on The Marriage of Opposites)

‘Alice Hoffman’s fictionalised biography of Rachel Pizzarro’s life is an evocative, sensitive and historically rich portrayal of a woman living ahead of her time’ (The Observer on The Marriage of Opposites)

Book Description:

From bestselling author Alice Hoffman comes a love story about one of history’s most captivating ‘invisible’ women: Rachel, the mother of Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1451693605
• ISBN 13: 9781451693607
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400