The Third Daughter: A Novel
Russia in the 1890s was a land of peasants living in extreme poverty. For Jewish peasants in Russia, it was even worse. The police, along with neighbours, could burn them out of their hovels, steal their meagre belongings, and force them from the village. This is reality for 14-year-old Batya, third daughter of the dairyman Koppel, who with her family trudges away homeless and exhausted. Then, a miracle. A rich man comes along and wants to marry her, to take her to his magnificent home in South America.
The good fortune does not last. It rapidly turns into a life of prostitution and degradation in Buenos Aires. Even the Jews of the city have only contempt for the Jewish girls duped into working in the many brothels. Batya learns to dance to attract clients, and one of her partners teaches her to tango; he also draws her into a plan to destroy the power of the pimps’ union that has corrupted the city police and government. Her reward for this is the promise that her family will be brought from Russia to join her. However, this takes a long time, and she is in constant danger.
Carner presents a very detailed look at the life of Jewish peasants in Russia and other European countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Contrasted with this is the apparently opulent Buenos Aires with its vibrant cultural life and beautifully dressed women. Batya’s suffering takes many forms: deprivation, physical and sexual abuse, separation from loved ones, and rejection by her own people. Her survival is in question daily. The author portrays Batya’s suffering with empathy and a deep desire to tell the story of these brothel-slaves to the world.
