by Talia Carner
This novel is their story.
Ezrat Nashim Poster
Young Girls,
Never accept a place abroad without knowing where you’re going and especially WITH WHOM YOU’RE STAYING.
There is loathsome trafficking that consists of SELLING young girls to houses of prostitution in the entire world. This trafficking is called WHITE TRADE.
THE SOCIETIES OF PROTECTION were created especially in order to help you and counsel you. Approach the SPECIAL COMMISSION OF THE STATION, which will give you their address.
Reading Group Guide
In her hours of despair, Batya thinks about and eventually attempts suicide. What prevents her or pulls her back? At what points in the story do you think she would say the life she is living is worth the trauma she has suffered? At what points would she not?
Some “sisters” at the brothel enjoy what this way of life gives them. They prefer it to the alternative of laboring in a sweatshop or a field, or living in the squalor of the shtetl. Discuss the options open to women at the time—and today.
While fleeing a pogrom, fourteen-year-old Batya feels responsible for her parents’ well-being. Discuss her life decisions in light of her older sisters’ choices. Is her love for her parents a burden or a gift?
Discuss the role faith plays in the book for each group of people: Batya and her “sisters”; Batya’s family in Russia; the pimps and patrons of Zwi Migdal; the Jewish population of Buenos Aires. To what practices does each group adhere? What are the limitations and/or hypocrisies of each group?
Batya’s mother is constantly on Batya’s mind. How does Batya’s perception of her mother change as she grows older? How does it change after her mother’s death? How did her mother’s presence influence Batya’s decisions?
Both Nettie and Rochel, two of Batya’s closest friends, undergo dramatic yet very different transformations. Discuss each one’s background, character, and options. Why did each make the choices she made?
Batya tries to save money in order to bring her family to Argentina from Russia. Discuss the economic structure of the brothel: What are the financial incentives offered to Batya, and in what ways do those incentives ultimately keep her in bondage?
Toward the end of the book, Batya finds herself having to choose between Ulmann and Sergio. What are the risks and rewards of each? Whom did you think Batya should choose? Did you find yourself changing your mind at different points in the story?
How complicit was the Argentine government in the trafficking of women? How did Zwi Migdal exploit cultural and legal practices to grow its business? And how was it able to hold on to power, even against a rising backlash?
The methods and practices used by Moskowitz and other pimps in the book are still being used today. How and why are they so effective?
Praise
Praise for Hotel Moscow
“Talia Carner has a sharp eye for detail and a captivating storytelling eloquence. Hotel Moscow is a finely drawn tale of a country emerging from its dark Soviet past into a present overshadowed by a new kind of terror and lawless corruption. Told from the point of view of an American woman, Brooke Fielding, who is in Moscow on business, this is a frightening journey into a world of violence and power struggles that will keep the reader mesmerized. A wonderful evocation of time and place and an insightful post–Cold War thriller that reminds us that in Russia the more that changes, the more that stays the same.”
—Nelson DeMille, author of Radiant Angel
“Hotel Moscow is a tantalizing book full of corruption, extortion, and shocking treatment of women—and that is just the tip of the Russian iceberg. Talia Carner’s engaging style draws you in with its powerful description of life in Russia twenty months after the fall of communism. I was mesmerized from beginning to end.”
—Deborah Rodriguez, author of The Kabul Beauty School
“With the urgency of a thriller and the sharp, atmospheric lens of a great documentary, Hotel Moscow hurls you into the vortex of the corrupt, outlaw world of the Soviet Union morphing into modern Russia. A fascinating and ultimately gripping read!”
—Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author of One Mile Under
“Hotel Moscow is bold and breathless. A smart story about a fearless New York woman who arrives in Russia with more baggage than she knows, it explores both the personal and the political with compelling prose, heartfelt insights and gripping action. An impressive achievement!”
—Ellen Meister, author of Farewell, Dorothy Parker
“Rich with insight and detail, as well as drama and emotion. . . . A heartening story about the possibilities for change and empowerment that follow when brave women work creatively together to forge a better future.”
—Rodney Barker, author of Dancing with the Devil: Sex, Espionage and the U.S. Marines
“Carner deftly mixes in the changing landscape of Russia with an emotional story about a woman coming to terms with her heritage.”
—Sun Sentinel (South Florida)
“Action-packed, steamy and suspenseful.”
—Jerusalem Post
“An eye-opening exposé of life following the collapse of the Iron Curtain. . . . Vividly drawn characters and taut suspense add up to a real-life dystopian page-turner of the un-put-downable variety.”
—Library Journal
“Talia Carner sweeps us away along with her brave and determined heroine to an exotic and complex time and place, and keeps us riveted with the tension and dangers of international intrigue. A real page-turner!”
—Tami Hoag, New York Times bestselling author of Cold Cold Heart
Praise for Jerusalem Maiden
“A fascinating look at a little-known culture and time. . . . Tuck Jerusalem Maiden in your beach bag.”
—Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
“Talia Carner uses beautiful language, exquisite storytelling, and detailed research to transport the reader into the world of old Jerusalem. . . . This is a book to savor and discuss.”
—Jewish Book World
“A welcome glimpse into a little-understood world.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Engaging. . . . Carner renders Esther’s world with great authority and detail, revealing intimate familial rituals within the larger political and socioeconomic context.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Esther Kaminsky is a true heroine—talented, passionate, opinionated—and I wanted her to succeed on every page of this novel. But for me the truly marvellous thing about Jerusalem Maiden is how deeply Talia Carner is able to evoke Esther’s faith and the complexity of the choices she faces. A beautiful and timely novel.”
—Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street and Eva Moves the Furniture
“Jerusalem Maiden is at heart a story of revolution. . . . Talia Carner’s story captivates at every level, heart and mind.”
—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Second Nature
“Jerusalem Maiden is a page-turning and thought-provoking novel. Extraordinary sensory detail vividly conjures another time and place; heroine Esther Kaminsky’s poignant struggle transcends time and place. The ultimate revelation here: for many women, if not most, 2011 is no different than 1911, but triumph is nonetheless possible.”
—Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route
“Exquisitely told, with details so vivid you can almost taste the food and hear the voices, Jerusalem Maiden is a coming-of-age story set in a time and place that few of us know. Talia Carner has written a moving and utterly captivating novel that I will be thinking about for a long, long time.”
—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Girl
“Jerusalem Maiden is a fascinating story of how a talented, artistic woman from a conservative faith must balance the responsibilities of her heritage against her passions for love and art. . . . This is a story that brings an elusive time and place to life and makes you question the streng
ths of your own beliefs.”
—Vanitha Sankaran, author of Watermark
“Talia Carner is a skillful and heartfelt storyteller who takes the reader on a journey of the senses, into a world long forgotten. Her story of a woman who struggles and seeks the light is universal and inspiring. Read this book and savor.”
—Jennifer Lauck, author of the New York Times bestseller Blackbird and the newly released Found: A Memoir
“Jerusalem Maiden won me over from the first moment I began reading it. . . . It is meticulously researched, and steeped in thorough knowledge, no less than deep understanding, of both this community and of the world of art in Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century. . . . I could not put it down.”
—Eva Etzioni-Halevy, author of The Triumph of Deborah, The Song of Hannah, and The Garden of Ruth
“Talia Carner’s Jerusalem Maiden is an exquisitely explosive journey back to the final days of the Ottoman Empire in Jerusalem. . . . It immerses us in a provocative and astonishingly realized world filled with evil spirits, arranged marriages, prayer, poverty, and the pain of breaking free.”
—Michelle Cameron, author of The Fruit of Her Hands
Also by Talia Carner
Hotel Moscow
Jerusalem Maiden
China Doll
Puppet Child
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE THIRD DAUGHTER. Copyright © 2019 by Talia Carner. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design by Ploy Siripant
Cover photo-illustration by Debra Lill
Cover photographs: Library of Congress (background)
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-289689-6
Version 07102019
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-289688-9
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* “First Wave Sexual Politics: Purity and Prostitution,” UCLA History M187A, April 9, 2009.
† Mir Hayim Yarfitz, “Polacos, White Slaves, and Stille Chuppahs: Organized Prostitution and the Jews of Buenos Aires, 1890–1939,” Ph.D. diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 2012.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
Part I Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Part II Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Part III Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Glossary
P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .* About the Author
About the Book
Praise
Also by Talia Carner
Copyright
About the Publisher
