“A luminous, Marquez-esque tale” (O, The Oprah Journal) from the brand new York Situations bestselling author of The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on a tropical isle about the extraordinary girl who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro-the Father of Impressionism.

Growing through to idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of existence in faraway Paris. Rachel’s mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven about The Relationship of Opposites her child for being a difficult girl who won’t live by the guidelines. Growing up, Rachel’s salvation can be their maid Adelle’s belief in her talents, and her deep, life-long a friendly relationship with Jestine, Adelle’s girl. But Rachel’s life is not her own. She actually is wedded off to a widower with three kids to save her father’s business. When her old husband dies abruptly and his good-looking, much younger nephew, Frédérick, happens from France to settle the property, Rachel seizes her personal life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that impacts all of her family, including her favorite son, who’ll become one of the biggest artists of France.

“A work of art” (Dallas Morning Information), The Relationship of Opposites showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman in the height of her considerable powers. “Her lush, seductive prose, and heart-pounding subject matter…make this latest skinny-dip in enchanted realism…the Platonic ideal from the beach browse” (Slate.com). Once forgotten to background, the marriage of Rachel and Frédérick “will only renew your dedication to Hoffman’s astonishing storytelling” (USA TODAY).