Joie Davidow

For Fans of Alexander Chee's best-selling novel, The Queen of the Night and opera fans everywhere. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous events of 19th century Europe, An Unofficial Marriage dramatizes the equally tumultuous real-life love affair of two great artists—the famous Russian author, Ivan Turgenev, and the celebrated French opera singer, Pauline Viardot. From the moment he encounters her on the St. Petersburg stage, Ivan falls completely for Pauline. Though Pauline returns his feelings, she is bound by her singular passion for her art and her devotion to her gentle, older husband, Louis. Nevertheless, Ivan pursues Pauline across countries and continents—from Russia to France to Germany to Prussia—and in the decades that follow their fateful meeting, the lives of Pauline, Ivan, and Louis remain permanently intertwined as the lovers face jealousy, separation, the French Revolution of 1848, the cholera epidemic of 1849, the Franco-Prussian War, Turgenev’s arrest in Russia, Louis’s heartbreak and resignation, and the highs and lows of their artistic careers. “You know those unofficial marriages,” Turgenev would write almost thirty years after meeting Pauline, “They sometimes turn out more poisonous than the accepted form.” With beautiful and compelling prose and employing multiple perspectives, Joie Davidow (who herself has a background in opera) illuminates not only the interior lives of these two intensely passionate artists, but also the grand historic moments that Pauline and Ivan experienced and the celebrated figures who moved in their circles—including George Sand, Leo Tolstoy, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Ary Scheffer—providing insight into the dynamic worlds of 19th century opera, literature, art, and politics. Epic in the tradition of the Russian writers whom we encounter, and as romantic and tragic as the operas that Pauline Viardot performs in, An Unofficial Marriage brings to life with great scope and great humanity this captivating story from the past and explores timeless questions about the relationship between art and passion and the complex workings of the human heart.

A Novel

An Unofficial Marriage

Esmeralda Santiago

En esta espléndida extravagancia literaria, veinticino de los más conocidos escritores latinos nos agradan y nos conmueven con sus recuerdos navideños. El cuento de Julia Álvarez nos enseña como Santicló libró de opresión política a su querido tío. Junot Díaz recuerda su inquieta asimilación a un nuevo país al pasar su primera Navidad en los Estados Unidos. Sandra Cisneros sigue con las memorias nostálgicas de las sabrosuras navideñas que preparó su papá. Las Christmas nos trae verdaderas historias de las muy distintas tradiciones de varios escritores--historias que vivamente captan el orgullo, el dolor, la alegría, y la pena que siempre acompañan las Navidades en todas las Américas. Magníficamente ilustrado y adornado con canciones y recetas--desde tamales dulces tradicionales hasta asopao puertorriqueño--para unas fiestas inolvidables. Un sabroso y alentador regalo de Navidad. Con 26 ilustraciones de José Ortega

Las Christmas

A successful journalist in the image-conscious field of fashion and beauty describes her personal battle to overcome her own painful feelings of inadequacy about a birthmark that covered most of the left side of her face, decribing her work in a feild that puts a premium on appearance, her attempts to correct the disfigurement, and her ultimate acceptance of her imperfect image. 25,000 first printing.

Joie Davidow

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