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Genealogy Book Store > Genealogy books beginning with G
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The German Bride: A Novel |
Author: Joanna Hershon
Published: 2008-03-25 |
List price: $25.00
Our price: $16.50
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As of: January 05th, 2009 09:07:26 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Letting go of the guilt in order to live.
This is the story of Eva Frank. As a teenager, she had an affair with a painter. Her sister found out and, then, died in childbirth. Eva blames herself for the loss for many years.
Eva marries the next interested man. He takes her to America and on an arduous journey to Santa Fe. She never complains, but accepts this as a consequence for causing her sister's death with her immoral behavior.
Her husband gambles their money away while she lives in poverty. She has pregnancies, but the babies die. She is unhappy, but won't leave her husband.
She becomes pregnant, again, and the child survives. She ends up leaving Santa Fe for San Francisco and is determined to make a life for herself and her infant daughter. I liked the end when she stood up for herself and went away. She seemed to let go of that guilt of years before.
 Sometimes ponderous, but truly engaging historical fiction
I loved THE OUTSIDE OF AUGUST by Joanna Hershon, so I jumped at the opportunity to read and review her current work of fiction, THE GERMAN BRIDE. Although I didn't like the latter as much as I did the former, both books are written beautifully. The one big difference is that while THE OUTSIDE OF AUGUST is set in contemporary times, THE GERMAN BRIDE is a historical novel, taking place in the 1860s. There's almost an epic-like feel to it, with the story set initially in Germany and then moving on to America.
Eva Frank and her sister, Henriette, are two young ladies who are having their portraits painted at the start of the story. They are both unmarried and live a life of ease with their parents. Henriette is the older of the two, but it is Eva who catches the eye of the painter, and soon the two are having a secret love affair.
After a tragic accident occurs one night, which fills Eva with tremendous guilt, she hastily marries (after a very brief courtship) a Jewish German merchant, Abraham Shein, who claims he has built a fortune in America. She leaves her home in Germany for the unknown American Wild West with a man she barely knows, hoping to forget the tragedy and move on with her life.
While she thinks she has escaped this terrible incident, it still haunts Eva in many ways, as does her affair with the painter. She also realizes, after many years of hardship in America, that what Abraham promised in terms of a home life of comfort and ease was not to be. She struggles with her marriage, her desire to create a baby, and her need to live in some sort of luxury instead of the ramshackle place they have in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It doesn't help that her husband is rarely home, and it isn't for a long while that Eva understands what is enticing him away.
While the reader may not connect with the characters, one will agree that Hershon does a magnificent job bringing to life the backdrop of the American West. One can imagine the hardships that immigrants faced from the time they left the port in Europe to the moment they set foot on American soil, often dreaming of a better life but never finding it. The author uses Eva to paint the story of the Jewish German immigrant, in particular those who settled in New Mexico and the harsh lives they led to achieve some sort of a livelihood.
I can imagine that Eva's story doesn't end here, and I would be delighted if Hershon continues it in a sequel. Although difficult to read at times, I appreciated the beauty of Hershon's writing and her success in capturing this part of American history through the fictional lives of Eva Frank and Abraham Shein.
--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
The immigrant experience of a young Jewish German woman
THE GERMAN BRIDE by Joanna Hershon
June 28, 2008
Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 stars
THE GERMAN BRIDE takes the reader to 1860's Germany, and then on to America, as a young woman tries to escape a tragedy that she blames herself for.
Eva Frank and her sister Henriette are having their portraits painted in their home in Germany, when Eva and the artist find a mutual interest in each other. The two embark on a secret love affair, kept hidden even from Henriette, until one fateful night when Henriette discovers the truth. It is this knowledge that Eva believes brought tragedy to their family. She immediately breaks off her relationship with the painter, and then meets a Jewish German merchant who has built a fortune in America. She marries Abraham Shein after a quick courtship, and follows him back to America and the Wild West of New Mexico, hoping to escape the tragedy that will ultimately haunt her.
Eva's troubles follow her to America. Her life there is not what she had expected. After living a life of ease, she is now living in near poverty. The house Abraham had promised her is not being built for some reason, and she feels alone. However, she meets a man that in some ways will change her life in America, who will be the turning point for Eva who has yet to find any happiness in her new homeland.
I didn't enjoy THE GERMAN BRIDE as much as I had her previous book, THE OUTSIDE OF AUGUST, but I am still recommending this book. It is beautifully written and fans of serious fiction (this is not chick lit or a beach read) will appreciate Hershon's efforts in writing an immigrant story that I found of great interest. I am a fan of historical fiction, in particular stories that do involve the immigrant experience, and while I didn't quite connect with Eva, I was still interested in hearing her story, to find out what would become of her and her husband.
Mixed feelings
I tend to agree with Marilyn R's review, in that I had a hard time "connecting" with the characters. From early on, I had the feeling that things were going to go "down hill" with each turn of the page. OK, I admit, I like "Rags to Riches" type stories...new arrival comes to America, works hard, overcomes hardships, and all ends well.
I actually think a story of Eva's "new life" (where this book ends) would be more interesting. Maybe a "Bride Part 2" is in the works?
 Great read!
A beautifully written historical tale of strength and suffering in the American West. Lush and evocative, The German Bride is at once romantic and tough--full of desperation and regret, passion and resolve, yearning and redemption. I couldn't put it down.
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