The Marriage of Opposites

In this lovely and imaginative fictionalized biography, Hoffman (The Museum of Extraordinary Things) reenvisions the mother of Camille Pissarro, the "father of impressionism." Rachel's Danish Jewish family fled Europe for the safety of St. Thomas shortly before her birth in 1795. At 17, she is forced into an arranged marriage to a widower with small children in order to save her father's fortune. Several years and a few more children later, she is widowed, and despite her keen business sense, the law dictates that only a blood relative of her husband can take control of the estate. When her late husband's nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France and sees Rachel, his heart is immediately hers. Their lifelong passion defies Jewish law, which forbids their marriage for many years. Camille, one of Rachel's four children, struggles well into adulthood against his mother's cold dismissal of his artistic brilliance, which was evident from an early age.