Joie Davidow's Books

An Unofficial Marriage

A Novel about Pauline Viardot and Ivan Turgenev

By: Joie Davidow

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An Unofficial Marriage

A Novel about Pauline Viardot and Ivan Turgenev

By: 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.

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Page Count

288

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1950691829

ISBN 13

9781950691821

Anything But Yes

A Novel of Anna Del Monte, Jewish Citizen of Rome, 1749

By: Joie Davidow

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Anything But Yes

A Novel of Anna Del Monte, Jewish Citizen of Rome, 1749

By: Joie Davidow

This beautiful new work of historical fiction was inspired by the diary of an 18th-century Roman Jewish girl who was imprisoned in a convent cell by the Catholic Church in an attempt to forcibly convert her. “An intricately detailed novel of resistance and community.” —Kirkus Reviews Anything but Yes is the true story of a young woman’s struggle to defend her identity in the face of relentless attempts to destroy it. In 1749, eighteen-year-old Anna del Monte was seized at gunpoint from her home in the Jewish ghetto of Rome and thrown into a convent cell at the Casa dei Catecumeni, the house of converts. With no access to the outside world, she withstood endless lectures, threats, promises, isolation and sleep deprivation. If she were she to utter the simple word “yes,” she risked forced baptism, which would mean never returning to her home, and total loss of contact with any Jew—mother, father, brother, sister—for the rest of her life. Even in Rome, very few people know the story of the Ghetto or the abduction of Jews, the story of popes ever more intent on converting every non-Catholic living in the long shadow of the Vatican. Young girls and small children were the primary targets. They were vulnerable, easily confused, gullible. Anna del Monte was different. She was strong, brilliant, educated, and wrote a diary of her experiences. The document was lost for more than 200 hundred years, then rediscovered in 1989. Anything but Yes is also based on Davidow’s extensive research on life in the eighteenth-century Roman ghetto, its traditions, food, personalities, and dialect. Includes Italian to English glossary

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Page Count

173

Publisher

Monkfish Book Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1958972096

ISBN 13

9781958972090

Las Christmas

Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories

By: Esmeralda Santiago,Joie Davidow

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Las Christmas

Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories

By: Esmeralda Santiago,Joie Davidow

Twenty-five celebrated Latino writers delight and move us with their recollections of Christmas in this splendid holiday extravaganza. From Julia Alvarez's tale of how Santicló delivered a beloved uncle from political oppression to Junot Díaz's story of his own uneasy assimilation on his first Christmas in America, to Sandra Cisneros's poignant memories of her late father's holiday dinners, Las Christmas gives us true stories from writers of many traditions--memories of Christmas and Hanukkah that vividly capture the pride and pain, joy and heartbreak, that so often accompany the holidays in the Americas. Richly illustrated and embellished with songs and poems, along with recipes for an unforgettable Christmas dinner--from traditional sweet tamales to Puerto Rican asopao (stew) and coquito (coconut eggnog)--this is an enduring treasury of Latino writing to read again and again. A heartwarming holiday gift.

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Page Count

226

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307426556

ISBN 13

9780307426550

Marked for Life

A Story of Disguise, Discovery and Redemption

By: Joie Davidow

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Marked for Life

A Story of Disguise, Discovery and Redemption

By: Joie Davidow

Attractive and successful, Joie Davidow presents a confident face to the world. But her carefully applied makeup conceals a secret she has kept for decades. Marked for Life chronicles Joie's struggle to overcome feeling that she was grotesquely flawed, while hiding behind a cosmetic mask that granted her entry into a profession that puts a premium on appearance, culminating in the life-changing realization that in deceiving others, she was also betraying herself. Written with humor and refreshingly devoid of self-pity, it will touch anyone who has ever felt "different" from the rest of the world.

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Page Count

272

Publisher

Josephine Davidow

Published Date

ISBN 10

1440109958

ISBN 13

9781440109959

An Unofficial Marriage

A Novel about Pauline Viardot and Ivan Turgenev

By: Joie Davidow

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An Unofficial Marriage

A Novel about Pauline Viardot and Ivan Turgenev

By: Joie Davidow

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288

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1950691829

ISBN 13

9781950691821

Marked for Life

A Story of Disguise, Discovery and Redemption

By: Joie Davidow

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Marked for Life

A Story of Disguise, Discovery and Redemption

By: Joie Davidow

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272

Publisher

Josephine Davidow

Published Date

ISBN 10

1440109958

ISBN 13

9781440109959

Las Mamis

Favorite Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers

By: Esmeralda Santiago,Joie Davidow

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Las Mamis

Favorite Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers

By: Esmeralda Santiago,Joie Davidow

In a marvelous new anthology from the editors of Las Christmas, some of our most admired Latino authors share memories of their mothers. Las Mamis brings to life fourteen remarkable women in sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious stories about the ups and downs of families from Kansas to Colombia and Boston to Mexico City. Junot Diaz remembers how his Dominican mother quietly helped him find his way back when his life hit a dead end. Alba Ambert mourns the Puerto Rican mother she lost as an infant. Francisco Goldman writes a paean to his Guatemalan Mamita's beauty and determination. Gioconda Belli discovers that her glamorous, all-powerful Nicaraguan mother is only a woman, after all. The women lovingly portrayed in Las Mamis represent a cross section of Latino life and culture. They come from rich families in the big cities of Latin America, from rural immigrant families in the United States, and from the worlds in between. But they all share extraordinary strength and courage. Often pressed by conflicting cultural expectations, circumstances, and religions, they have nevertheless managed to leave enduring legacies for their children. Now, in these vivid, touching, often humorous reminiscences -- infused with a distinctive "sabor latino -- Las Mamis celebrates the special bond between mothers and their children.

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Page Count

216

Publisher

Alfred A. Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0375408797

ISBN 13

9780375408793

Las Christmas

Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories

By: Esmeralda Santiago,Joie Davidow

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Las Christmas

Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories

By: Esmeralda Santiago,Joie Davidow

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Age

Page Count

226

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307426556

ISBN 13

9780307426550

Book's by Joie Davidow

An Unofficial Marriage

An Unofficial Marriage

Anything But Yes

Anything But Yes

Las Christmas

Las Christmas

Marked for Life

Marked for Life

An Unofficial Marriage

An Unofficial Marriage

Marked for Life

Marked for Life

Las Mamis

Las Mamis

Las Christmas

Las Christmas

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