The German Bride

A new novel by the author of Swimming, this elegant story describes one woman's quest for identity as she leaves Germany in the mid-19th century and makes a new life in the wild and untamed American frontier.

Review :
Advance praise for The German Bride "Joanna Hershon's sinuous new novel roams away from the milieu of her two previous books, which were modern family dramas, into the territories of historical fiction and immigration literature. Hershon spins the tale of a German Jewish woman named Eva Frank who, after a hasty marriage in 1865, leaves her wealthy father's mansion in Berlin to pursue a new life among the "low mud-cake hovels" of the American West. To the many expressions of this threshold experience in American immigration literature, by authors from Anzia Yezerskia to Jhumpa Lahiri, Hershon adds an eloquent voice." -Washington Post " ""At once lyrical and heartbreaking, Hershon's third novel ("Swimming," 2001, etc.) follows a young Jewish bride as she leaves the refinement of Berlin for the wilds of 1860s Santa Fe....Hershon creates a finely nuanced portrait of their marriage--Eva, politely contemptuous of the state in which she's forced to live, Abraham, glib, guilty and Advance praise for The German Bride " ""A surprising novel of grace and refinement. It is a tale of the American West, but unlike any I have ever read before. Hershon enters Willa Cather territory and does it with a rare elegance and complete originality. I was not familiar with Joanna Hershon's work when I read this novel, and it made me order her first two books." ----Pat Conroy, author of The Water Is Wide "Wonderful from start to finish. An immigrant tale and a Western, without the Lower East Side or cowboys. I don't know why nobody has told such a story before, but I'm glad Joanna Hershon has told it first and told it so well." ----Mary Doria Russell, author of" "A Thread of Grace"" "A novel of great breadth and depth, a richly imagined pilgrimage into this brave new world. Joanna Hershon paints the portrait of a woman----and her family and suitors, the strange company she starts to keep----with authoritative precision; hers is a first-rate talent and here is a riveting read." ----Nicholas Delbanco, author of" "Spring and Fall" " "Joanna Hershon's lush and gripping novel of travel and dislocation exquisitely delineates the shock and loss that accompanied the wild ride of immigration and frontier-living in the mid-nineteenth century. Eva Shein's heart-in-the-throat journey, from Germany to Santa Fe, is an elegant and mesmerizing testament to human adaptability and survival." ----Helen Schulman, author of" "A Day at the Beach "A highly satisfying story, full of marvelous details that evoke a time when the American West was being built. There is stunning power in Hershon's finely cadenced prose, and compassion for her characters. This is a novelyou can't put down. Get ready to stay up all night following Eva's adventures." ----Jonis Agee, author of" "The River Wife" "