The Marriage of Opposites, Alice Hoffman
The Marriage of Opposites, Alice Hoffman
57 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

The Marriage of Opposites

Author: Alice Hoffman

Narrator: Gloria Reuben, Tina Benko, Santino Fontana

Unabridged: 13 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/04/2015


Synopsis

“A luminous, Marquez-esque tale” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on a tropical island about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro—the Father of Impressionism.

Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel’s mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refuses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel’s salvation is their maid Adelle’s belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jestine, 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 older husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning 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.

“A work of art” (Dallas Morning News), The Marriage of Opposites showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman at the height of her considerable powers. “Her lush, seductive prose, and heart-pounding subject…make this latest skinny-dip in enchanted realism…the Platonic ideal of the beach read” (Slate.com). Once forgotten to history, the marriage of Rachel and Frédérick “will only renew your commitment to Hoffman’s astonishing storytelling” (USA TODAY).

About Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Book of MagicMagic LessonsThe World That We KnewPractical MagicThe Rules of Magic (a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick), the Oprah’s Book Club Selection Here on EarthThe Red GardenThe DovekeepersThe Museum of Extraordinary ThingsThe Marriage of Opposites, and Faithful. She lives near Boston.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on August 30, 2015

No doubt about it, Hoffman is a talented author. She's got a unique style and her stories are always so diverse. This one is no different. It is lavishly lyrical in spirits, visions and superstitions. She spins a story that is culturally rich with texture and history. It takes place in St. Thomas in......more

Goodreads review by J.L. on December 04, 2021

“You couldn’t see love, or touch it, or taste it, yet it could destroy you and leave you in the dark, chasing after your own destiny.” The writing in Alice Hoffman’s Marriage of Opposites is extraordinary and engaging! Set on St. Thomas in the early 19th century, our main character, Rachel, refuses t......more

Goodreads review by Candi on September 04, 2018

"Then I understood that when someone begins to tell you her story, you are entwined together." This quote is much like the way I felt after reading this excellent novel. Rachel Pomié Petit Pizzarro shared her story and that of her son, the renowned Impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro. For a time,......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on July 24, 2015

A work of historical fiction written by Alice Hoffman was all I needed to know and I was immediately interested in reading this book . I loved the Dovekeepers and while they are very different stories , Hoffman's lyrical writing and story telling had me fully engaged in this family saga. I have to a......more

Goodreads review by Diane on August 16, 2017

One of A.Hoffman's best writings..great to see her going back in time telling us all about what was happening back then: like a spiteful,mean and nasty mother... while her educated daughter was force to get married to an older man who already had another wife(polygamy)...all this was taking place in......more