Book: The German Bride

Author: Joanna Hershon

Review:  It took me awhile to get into this book, because it is in Third person narrative.  Eva is a rich Jewish girl in 1860's Germany.  After she and her sister, Henriette, get their potraits painted, Eva starts an affair with the Catholic painter Heinrich.  After the affair turns sexual, Eva puts an end to it, but when she and her sister run into Heinrich later, she finds herself sneaking out to see him.  Unfortunately, Henriette follows her despite the fact that she is seven months pregnant.  The result is that Henriette is able to keep their parents from finding out about the affair and ruining Eva's life, but she looses her life and that of her child.  Eva is so distraught that she accepts a marriage proposal from a Jew who has moved to the American West.  The life that Abraham promises her is not the reality.  When they reach Santa Fe, she finds that they don't even have a home.  And she never really gets one, because he gambles away all of their money. 

I had a hard time getting into this novel, but then it seemed to end too soon.