I was entering new audiobooks on our website at work one day when this title came across my radar. The following book description sounded like an interesting historical fiction book, so I put a hold on the audiobook to listen to it.
“The turn of the twentieth century finds fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms. Desperate, her father leaps at the opportunity to marry Batya to a wealthy stranger who can guarantee his daughter an easy life in America. Feeling like a princess in a fairytale, Batya leaves her old life behind as she is whisked away to a new world. But soon she discovers that she’s entered a waking nightmare.”
The book turned out to be different than what I had imagined, but I still enjoyed it. It turns out that Batya ended up in a different America than I had envisioned from the description. Her intended husband sent her alone on a boat, and she ended up in a different America – in Bueno Aires. Not only that, she had been selected and tricked to serve as a prostitute in his business there. Prostitution was apparently legal in Bueno Aires at the time. Batya is a strong character, and throughout her nightmare, she remains hopeful that she can still bring her family to Buenos Aires so they can escape the anti-Semitism in Russia. She ends up being a reasonably well-known Tango dancer and is about to reach her goal when she is approached by a man recruiting her to help bring down the criminal network that has brought her there.
The story is an interesting one and sheds light on a little known period and piece of Jewish history. The character of Batya is well -developed, and I was captivated by her strength and optimism despite her circumstances.
My Rating: 4 Stars
Mary's Read All About It 