{"product_id":"9781612940373","title":"The Escape Artist","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Katz lives up to her first novel's potential in this moving, funny, wholly original picaresque about a nice Jewish girl. . . . The pasts and common destiny of two remarkable women—related with perfect timing in Sofia's convincing Yiddish-tinged English—come together beautifully in this nicely crafted, emotionally satisfying, and well-researched historical fiction.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Escape Artist\u003c\/i\u003e, a brilliant work of historical fiction . . . fast-paced and gorgeously written novel” —\u003ci\u003eLiberty Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet in the brothels and gangster dens of Jewish Buenos Aires at the beginning of the twentieth century, \u003ci\u003eThe Escape Artist\u003c\/i\u003e catapults us into the lives of Sofia Teitelbaum and Hankus Lubarsky.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSofia, a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is lured away from home by Tutsik Goldenberg, a wealthy traveling businessman who claims to be a lonely Argentine diamond merchant in search of a wife. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, Tutsik dumps Sofia at his sister’s brothel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHankus, also a nice Jewish girl from Poland, is passing as a man. Having escaped the pogroms of Poland that killed her family, she lives her life as a handsome and mysterious magician and escape artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Tutsik spots the talented juggler and acrobat Hankus he envisions success as his manager, seeing Hankus as the means to get out from under his sister’s thumb.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSofia and Hankus fall in love and their attempts to walk the tightrope of love, freedom, and independence are quickly put to the test.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSex, deception, magic, and love are the main ingredients of this tour de force novel by Lambda Literary Award winner Judith Katz. In \u003ci\u003eThe Escape Artist\u003c\/i\u003e, Katz reveals that all human interactions consist of love and hate, deception and candor, altruism and self-interest. This is as true in our lives today as it was in an immigrant community at the turn of the last century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJudith Katz \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of two published novels, \u003ci\u003eThe Escape Artist\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRunning Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound\u003c\/i\u003e, which won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction. She has received Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and National Endowment fellowships for fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bywater Books MI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47061005730032,"sku":"9781612940373","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781612940373_p0.jpg?v=1763843341","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781612940373","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}