THE MARRIAGE OF OPPOSITES*

US: Simon Schuster, 2016. Paperback. Good. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and The Museu m of Extraordinary Things : a forbidden love story set on the tropical isla nd of St. Thomas about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Ca mille Pissarro--the Father of Impressionism.Growing up on idyllic St. Thoma s in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel's moth er, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inqui sition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refu ses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel's salvation is their maid Adel le's belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jesti ne, Adelle's daughter. But Rachel's life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father's business. When her h usband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arri ves from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beg inning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family, including her favorite son, who will become one of the greatest artists of France.Building on the triumphs of The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things , set in a world of almost unimaginable beauty, The Marriage of Opposites showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman at the height of her considerable powers. Once forgotten to history , the marriage of Rachel and Frédérick is a story that is as unforgettable as it is remarkable.