The Escape Artist

"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."—Publishers Weekly

Set in the brothels and gangster dens of Jewish Buenos Aires at the beginning of the twentieth century, The Escape Artist catapults us into the lives of Sofia Teitelbaum (tricked into prostitution and away from the gentility of her Eastern European family), and a handsome, mysterious magician, Hankus—formerly Hannah—Lubarsky.

Traveling in a world of small-scale criminals and large emotions, our two lesbian heroes rub elbows with—and up against—Sofia's captors, the formidable and bizarrely religious Madame Perle Goldenberg and her malcontent brother Tutsik; Marek Fishbein, the boorish king pimp of the ghetto; Perle's bordello colleague, salty Red Ruthie; and a bevy of unblushing racketeers, hypocrites, and whores.

Written with the bent notes and dizzying rhythms of a klezmer tune, The Escape Artist is a breathtaking, delightful tale for all lovers of historical ficiton.

Judith Katz is the author of two published novels, The Escape Artist and Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound, which won a Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction. She has received Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and National Endowment fellowships for fiction. She teaches at the University of Minnesota.