The Third Daughter by Talia Carner β 512 pages
ARC provided by William Morrow for an honest review.
Book Blurb:
The turn of the 20th century findsΒ fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing Β Β with her family endless pogroms. Desperate, her fatherΒ leaps at the opportunity to marry Batya to aΒ worldly, wealthy stranger who can guarantee his daughter an easy life and passageΒ to America.
Feeling like a princess in a fairytale, Batya leaves her old life behind as she is whisked away to a new world.Β But soon she discovers that sheβs entered a waking nightmare.Β Her new βhusbandβ does indeed bring her to America: Buenos Aires, a vibrant, growing city in which prostitution is not only legal but deeply embedded in the culture. And now Batya is one of thousands of women tricked and sold into a brothel.
As the years pass, Batya forms deep bonds with her βsistersβ in the house as well as some men who are both kind and cruel.Β Through it all, sheΒ holds onto one dream: to bring her family to America, where they will be safe from the anti-Semitism that plagues Russia. Just as Batya is becoming a known tango dancer, she gets an unexpected but dangerous opportunityβto help bring down the criminalΒ network that has enslaved so many young women.Β
My Review: 4.5 stars
The Third Daughter proved to be another compelling and gripping story by Talia Carner. I adored her earlier book The Jerusalem Maiden so my expectations were high. This one definitely met the elevated bar it was being held to.
The book was loosely inspired by Sholem Aleichemβs book, Railroad Stories, specifically the short story about Tevye the dairyman meeting a smooth-talking man from Buenos Aires. Yes, this is the same author that wrote Tevyeβs Daughters, which was the motivation behind Fiddler on the Roof. Carner took the opportunity to explore what if someoneβs daughter, similar to Tevyeβs, got swindled into marrying a rich man, only to be thrust into a life of prostitution. Through that marriage, Carner was able to shine a light on one of Buenos Aries most horrific footnotes in history, the Jewish prostitution slave trade.
Iβve read a lot of Jewish fiction and Iβm always amazed and gladdened when I learn something new. Unfortunately, this part of Jewish history was something Iβd rather forget. After reading this book, I was up to my eyeballs trying to learn more about this organized crime group Zwi Migdal. The author has many articles, links to movies and interviews about this topic. There is no doubt that Carner did an immense amount of research on this topic.
The story is easy to get hooked into and Batya is a character to adore and root for. Sheβs strong, smart and knows how to persevere. Her drive for survival isnβt just about saving herself. She is fighting to protect her family, especially her sisters, and the other women kept as prisoners all over Buenos Aires. The friendships Batya makes with other women in the brothel are the relationships that sustain her through her life of desperation and fear.
The tango dance was an important symbol throughout the novel. Watching Batya grow from a naΓ―ve fourteen-year-old to a beautiful and skilled dancer was like watching a flower blossom in snow. She was a fighter. Book clubs will love this book. Thereβs so much to discuss. Note: Carner is careful to make sure the reader knows the pain and horrors that take place without being over explicative, however there are some brutal scenes, so consider this a warning if this is a trigger for you.
Quotes I liked:
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