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The German Bride: A Novel

by Joanna Hershon

Published: 2009-03-24
Paperback : 336 pages

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Introduction

Berlin, 1861. Eva Frank, a sixteen-year-old Jewess, has her portrait painted, which leads to an indiscretion that has devastating consequences. Desperate to escape a painful situation, Eva marries Abraham Shein, an ambitious merchant who has returned home to Germany for the first time in a decade since establishing himself in the American West. The young bride leaves Berlin and its ghosts for an unfamiliar life halfway across the world, traversing the icy waters of the Atlantic and the rugged, sweeping terrain of the Santa Fe Trail.

Though Eva's existence in the rough and burgeoning community of Sante Fe, New Mexico, is a far cry from her life as a daughter of privilege, she soon begins to settle into the mystifying town. But this new setting cannot keep at bay the overwhelming memories of her former life, nor can it protect her from an increasing threat to her own safety that will force Eva to make a fateful decision.

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Excerpt

Father held the chicken feather in one hand and the candle in the other. By the light of the small candle’s flame, Henriette and Eva followed him through the house now that the day was done. They searched for bread or anything resembling it—cookies, cakes, biscuits, noodles, Eva’s favorite things. Father dusted corners with the feather, while holding light to the darkest places to make sure each crumb was caught and placed inside the sack. As they gathered crumbs, Mother practiced the piano. ...

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Discussion Questions

1) Eva blames herself throughout the novel for the death of her sister Henriette and her newborn son. Do you think that Eva is, in fact, to blame? Do you think if something comparable happened today, the intensity of guilt and shame would be comparable?

2) Eva has three different relationships with men in this novel-Heinrich, Abraham and Levi. What issues do you think Hershon was trying to explore through each one? Do you think Eva was in love with any, or all, of these men?

3) Abraham is a maddening husband, brother, business partner and friend. Even so, there is something compelling about him. Did you find yourself routing for him despite his terrible behavior, or did you feel that he got only what he deserved?

4) Why do you think Hershon chose the epigraph from Anne Carson, "The self forms on the edge of desire…"?

5) What role does Judaism play in THE GERMAN BRIDE? What about Jewish identity? Is there a difference between the two?

6) As written by Hershon, there is a drastic shift in environment between Berlin and America, and the landscape of the American southwest is evoked both harshly and sublimely. What role do you think "place" plays in the development of THE GERMAN BRIDE?

7) Do you identify more with Beatrice Speigelman or Eva? Why?

8) How big a part do God and faith play in this novel?

9) Eva and Levi form a friendship in a sickroom. How does his weakness play a part in their relations? Is his weakness eroticized? How?

10) Abraham and Meyer have a strained and ultimately tragic relationship. Do you think Meyer should have cut him off long before he did? Which of the two brothers is more "American"?

11) This is a historical novel, in that it takes place in the past. But do you think this story would hold up in a contemporary setting? Is there a difference between a "historical novel" and a literary novel that happens to take place in the past?

12) How would you characterize Hershon's prose style? Are there any sentences that stayed with you after you'd finished reading? Pick a striking scene and read it aloud. Is there music in the language? Variation? Is anything excessive?

13) The ending of THE GERMAN BRIDE leaves so much in question. Were you satisfied by Hershon's decision to end mid-journey? What role does Pauline play in this story? Do you think she is important to the novel? How? Why do you think Hershon ended the book with the line: "The other is me."?

Weblinks

»	Author's Website
»	Publisher's Website

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

While I’ve read many books that chronicle the great waves of Jewish immigrants to New York and other Eastern metropolises, few look closely at the smaller Diaspora to the vast and untamed American West. After I learned that my friend's great-great-grandfather was a "Jewish cowboy.” I knew I'd had found my third book. But to write my novel, I had to find my own story. The same question kept rising up while researching: all these German Jewish women—well educated, piano-playing, multi-lingual—why would they agree to marry men who lived half-way across the world? Love--yes,=okay. But I began to think of other, more complicated reasons, which led me to my heroine, Eva Frank, and her particular journey. Finding one’s independence and forging one’s own identity is certainly a big part of the novel, but the last part of the book opens up in terms of characters and experience. There is a sense of expansiveness in everything from new characters to new landscape.

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Member Reviews

Overall rating:

"Great insight into late 19th century Western immigration"by Shelah H. (see profile) 01/18/09

As I live in the southwest and find it breathtakingly beautiful, I was reminded in this book what it took to live here in the 1800's. Eva struggles with her own demons and with the demons of the landscape,... (read more)

"Book club winners!! Thanks again."by Connie P. (see profile) 06/24/08

This book was sort of slow in the start and a little hard to follow, but once Eva started her trip across America to Santa Fe, I got very interested her life and what she was all about
... (read more)

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