The Russian Bride

Bernstein (Sadie has set her new novel in Europe during the turbulent years at the turn of the century. Salka Radin is 17 when her parents, fearing renewed violence against Jews in their native Russia, send her to live with relatives in Hamburg. Among the sophisticated Germans, Salka encounters another form of discrimination. Considered an Ostjude, or ghetto Jew, she is treated as a charity case rather than a member of the family. The action moves to Vienna when Salka is forced into marriage with Leon Salaman, son of a wealthy Viennese banker. The unworldly young woman falls passionately in love with her charming husband, but Leon proves chronically unfaithful, and their relationship is stormy. When Leon begins neglecting his duties at the bank, his father, the formidable Sandor Salaman, starts to rely on Salka's quick business mind. Salka's engrossing story plays out against a backdrop of resurging anti-Semitism in Austria. Readers will enjoy Bernstein's believable characters and her careful attention to atmosphere and historical detail. (January)