"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 self-righteous, and yet the two love, or at least desperately need the other. As Eva suffers a number of failed pregnancies, Abraham becomes more indebted to the gambling table and local bordello, and their downfall is imminent. Hershon s large cast of supporting players Santa Fe s French bishop and his grimacing flock of nuns, the other German Jewish merchants prospering and creating a community and her
graceful description of the desert form a narrative of outsiders pitted against a giant landscape. Amidst it all stands little Eva, determined to make a life for herself. A beautifully written tale of small sufferings and redemptions." Kirkus Reviews
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 novel you can t put down. Get ready to stay up all night following Eva s adventures. Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife
