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The Escape Artist
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 modest gentility of her Eastern European family), and a handsome, mysterious magician, Hankus - formerly Hannah - Lubarsky (enjoying the freedom of South America after the pogroms of Poland), as they somersault, tumble, and spin their way into an imagined lesbian future together. Written with the bent notes and dizzying rhythms of a klezmer tune, The Escape Artist is a breathtaking, delightful tale, full of spills, chills, and lush language.
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 28, 2010
I'm sad to learn that this book, only published in 1997, is out of print, and will now only find it's readers through used vendors and personal libraries. It's an important book, not just because it can be catagorized as lesbian fiction, but because it can rather be catagorized as historical fiction featuring a lesbian main character. The world needs more stories of homosexuals whose stories are told not because their sexual preference makes them interesting, but whose stories are inherently meaningful outside of their sexual preference. At the same time, this book is very sexy, very tragic, and very moving, all at the same time.
The story begins just past the turn of the 20th century, when a Polish Jewish family is conned into selling their teenage daughter to a Jewish pimp who whisks her away to a Jewish colony in Buenos Aires and installs her in his sister's bordello. Forced to perform sexual services and treated as a sexual slave, Sofia pines for escape. Meanwhile, back in the homeland, a young girl finds herself the only survivor of a pogrom in her small Jewish village. She dons men's clothing to survive, and eventually finds herself in the same Buenos Aires neighborhood, being groomed as a male magician extraordinaire and a meal ticket for her gangster investors. Abused and taken advantage of by the same gangster family, the two women meet and fall secretly in love, Sofia keeping Hankus's real identity her own secret. The machinations towards their own freedom are full of thrills, chills and tragedy, but in the end, though compromised, the women finally find their life together.
In the same vein as Sarah Waters' great historical fiction, this book maintains a strong momentum with unpredictable twists, engaging characters, and a clear rendering of the times and unique location. Also, this book offers a great opportunity to brush up on your Yiddish slang, from toches to nafkehs, you'll be speaking like a Jewish gangster in no time.
The story begins just past the turn of the 20th century, when a Polish Jewish family is conned into selling their teenage daughter to a Jewish pimp who whisks her away to a Jewish colony in Buenos Aires and installs her in his sister's bordello. Forced to perform sexual services and treated as a sexual slave, Sofia pines for escape. Meanwhile, back in the homeland, a young girl finds herself the only survivor of a pogrom in her small Jewish village. She dons men's clothing to survive, and eventually finds herself in the same Buenos Aires neighborhood, being groomed as a male magician extraordinaire and a meal ticket for her gangster investors. Abused and taken advantage of by the same gangster family, the two women meet and fall secretly in love, Sofia keeping Hankus's real identity her own secret. The machinations towards their own freedom are full of thrills, chills and tragedy, but in the end, though compromised, the women finally find their life together.
In the same vein as Sarah Waters' great historical fiction, this book maintains a strong momentum with unpredictable twists, engaging characters, and a clear rendering of the times and unique location. Also, this book offers a great opportunity to brush up on your Yiddish slang, from toches to nafkehs, you'll be speaking like a Jewish gangster in no time.
October 27, 2020
Das Cover hat mich einfach verzaubert, es machte mich direkt neugierig auf die Geschichte.
Für das Buch habe ich wirklich etwas länger Zeit gebraucht, einfach weil die Geschichte teilweise wirklich aufwühlend war.
Zudem ist der Schreibstil etwas anspruchsvoller.
Der Schreibstil ist detailliert und gepickt mit Informationen und Gefühlen.
Die Geschichte ist wirklich stark und außergewöhnlich.
Man begleitet die junge Sofia in ein grausames Schicksal, dort findet sie Hass, Liebe und ihre Stärke.
Sie wächst mit den Kapiteln immer mehr und mir ging ihre Geschichte wirklich nahe.
Das Buch ist in 4 Teile unterteilt und erzählt die Geschichte aus der Sicht von Sofia.
Hankus, gefiel mir auf anhieb, eine starke Frau, die sich als Mann tarnt.
Ich mochte die beiden Protagonistinnen sehr gerne.
Die bewegenden Schicksale haben mich sofort gefesselt und das die Beiden in einer so trostlosen Zeit Liebe und Vertrauen fanden ging mir sehr ans Herz.
Die Geschichte trifft einfach direkt ins Herz, lässt einen leiden, beten, hoffen und sich verlieben.
Eine außergewöhnliche Liebesgeschichte zwischen zwei starken Frauen, die ein schweres Schicksal tragen.
Für das Buch habe ich wirklich etwas länger Zeit gebraucht, einfach weil die Geschichte teilweise wirklich aufwühlend war.
Zudem ist der Schreibstil etwas anspruchsvoller.
Der Schreibstil ist detailliert und gepickt mit Informationen und Gefühlen.
Die Geschichte ist wirklich stark und außergewöhnlich.
Man begleitet die junge Sofia in ein grausames Schicksal, dort findet sie Hass, Liebe und ihre Stärke.
Sie wächst mit den Kapiteln immer mehr und mir ging ihre Geschichte wirklich nahe.
Das Buch ist in 4 Teile unterteilt und erzählt die Geschichte aus der Sicht von Sofia.
Hankus, gefiel mir auf anhieb, eine starke Frau, die sich als Mann tarnt.
Ich mochte die beiden Protagonistinnen sehr gerne.
Die bewegenden Schicksale haben mich sofort gefesselt und das die Beiden in einer so trostlosen Zeit Liebe und Vertrauen fanden ging mir sehr ans Herz.
Die Geschichte trifft einfach direkt ins Herz, lässt einen leiden, beten, hoffen und sich verlieben.
Eine außergewöhnliche Liebesgeschichte zwischen zwei starken Frauen, die ein schweres Schicksal tragen.
November 18, 2014
read and reread - still damn good
December 22, 2017
I loved The Escape Artist. It reminded me a lot of Sarah Waters’s writing while still being something entirely its own. If you’re looking for your next brilliant historical book to read, definitely choose this one.
Full review: http://www.thelesbianreview.com/escap...
Full review: http://www.thelesbianreview.com/escap...
December 27, 2025
I read this lesbian classic about 25 years ago, so I was ready for a reread. It was just as much fun the second time. It deals with some heavy issues, but still keeps a light touch. It’s an adventure story, a love story, and a vivid piece of historical fiction.
It’s the story of two young woman, both Polish Jews, who end up in Buenos Aires in the early part of the 20th century. One of the women, Hannah, is a refugee from a village destroyed by Cossacks, her whole family killed. She wanders around, dressed in boy’s clothes, and eventually learns juggling and sleight of hand from street performers. The other, Sofia, is the victim of a scam. Her destitute parents accept a rich sum from a young man who promises to marry her as soon as they are on the ship to Buenos Aires. Instead, when they get there, she is sold to a house of prostitution.
The novel is full of vivid and interesting characters, especially the lovely and sensuous madam of the house, who gradually becomes a religious fanatic and manages to make her escape to a more respectable life. She leaves the house to her cruel and dissatisfied brother, Tutsik. He’s sick of her and of the prostitution racket, and so he tries to get into the entertainment business via a brilliant street performer he’s found, a young man named Hankus. Nobody knows that Hankus is actually a young woman, but Sofia figures it out by looking at her hands. The two fall in love, and Hankus manages to engineer Sofia’s rescue.
Things get exciting on the day of Hankus’ big performance, as her secret begins to emerge and finally reaches Tutsik. The ending is a lovely example of Hankus’ art, a perfect escape. I loved it. Very satisfying!
It’s the story of two young woman, both Polish Jews, who end up in Buenos Aires in the early part of the 20th century. One of the women, Hannah, is a refugee from a village destroyed by Cossacks, her whole family killed. She wanders around, dressed in boy’s clothes, and eventually learns juggling and sleight of hand from street performers. The other, Sofia, is the victim of a scam. Her destitute parents accept a rich sum from a young man who promises to marry her as soon as they are on the ship to Buenos Aires. Instead, when they get there, she is sold to a house of prostitution.
The novel is full of vivid and interesting characters, especially the lovely and sensuous madam of the house, who gradually becomes a religious fanatic and manages to make her escape to a more respectable life. She leaves the house to her cruel and dissatisfied brother, Tutsik. He’s sick of her and of the prostitution racket, and so he tries to get into the entertainment business via a brilliant street performer he’s found, a young man named Hankus. Nobody knows that Hankus is actually a young woman, but Sofia figures it out by looking at her hands. The two fall in love, and Hankus manages to engineer Sofia’s rescue.
Things get exciting on the day of Hankus’ big performance, as her secret begins to emerge and finally reaches Tutsik. The ending is a lovely example of Hankus’ art, a perfect escape. I loved it. Very satisfying!
June 21, 2021
A strange book that taught me a piece of my own cultural history I didn’t know; made me long for Jewish food and company; and angered me at its minimization of women be used as six slaves. Worth reading and discussing.
March 28, 2022
An immersive epic tale with rich characters, beautiful prose and such a satisfying end!
I do love it when the sapphic protagonists, so deeply in love and supportive of one another, outsmart their tormentors and ride off into the sunset.
I do love it when the sapphic protagonists, so deeply in love and supportive of one another, outsmart their tormentors and ride off into the sunset.
May 19, 2019
I enjoyed this book very much! The combination of history and the kind of story about women that is seldom told! Excellent!!
May 28, 2024
yiddishist Sarah waters .. yum!
August 10, 2013
A zesty, finely spun tale of survival and triumph in the early 20th century
Judith Katz writes like playwright or a screenwriter (and for agents scanning her many reviews this could be construed as a hint that there is a fine film within the covers of this novel!). She is also a brave and gifted novelist who is unafraid to take on issues of same sex love and instead of apologizing for gender differences she celebrates them in a completely professional and endearing way. Her previous novel won the Lambda Literary Award for good reason.
Katz takes us to the year 1913 in Poland where living conditions are dire and family survival can lead parents to make some unwanted decisions about how to live. The Polish Jewish Teitelbaums have decided that their beautiful daughter Sofia should marry a squeaky clean (read sterile) businessman, Tutsik Goldenberg who wears diamond rings and fine clothes and seems a perfect catch for a needy family. Sofia loathes the idea, but even before a proper marriage can be performed she is whisked off with her new `husband' to Buenos Aires, Argentina where instead of marriage Sofia is placed in a brothel owned by Tutsik's evil sister Perle. Just when things appear hopeless Sofia meets the fascinated magician Hankus, likewise a Polish girl escaping the pogroms in Poland, who has been cross-dressing as a man and has been usurped by Tutsik who sees the possibility of `managing' Hankus to compete with and distance himself from his sister's brothel business. As we would expect (and hope) Sofia and Hankus fall in love and the journey to freedom for both of them takes us one a wild ride in the atmosphere of Buenos Aires.
Much of the joy of reading Judith Katz's delightful drama is her liberal use of Jewish terms throughout her story. One minor request would be that she supply translations of those words somehow for those readers unfamiliar with the terminology. This being the second edition of THE ESCAPE ARTIST, gratefully published by Bywater books, there is an essay at book's end written by Emma Parker `Magic, Diaspora, and Klezbian Desire in Judith Katz's `The Escape Artist' that deepens the impact of the book. It begins, `This essay examines the ways in which magic articulates the traumatic effects and transformative potential of migration in Judith Katz's `The Escape Artist', a novel that constructs a woman-centered and queer counter-history of the Jewish diaspora.' It is a fine addendum to a fine novel that should have very wide audience appeal.
Grady Harp
Judith Katz writes like playwright or a screenwriter (and for agents scanning her many reviews this could be construed as a hint that there is a fine film within the covers of this novel!). She is also a brave and gifted novelist who is unafraid to take on issues of same sex love and instead of apologizing for gender differences she celebrates them in a completely professional and endearing way. Her previous novel won the Lambda Literary Award for good reason.
Katz takes us to the year 1913 in Poland where living conditions are dire and family survival can lead parents to make some unwanted decisions about how to live. The Polish Jewish Teitelbaums have decided that their beautiful daughter Sofia should marry a squeaky clean (read sterile) businessman, Tutsik Goldenberg who wears diamond rings and fine clothes and seems a perfect catch for a needy family. Sofia loathes the idea, but even before a proper marriage can be performed she is whisked off with her new `husband' to Buenos Aires, Argentina where instead of marriage Sofia is placed in a brothel owned by Tutsik's evil sister Perle. Just when things appear hopeless Sofia meets the fascinated magician Hankus, likewise a Polish girl escaping the pogroms in Poland, who has been cross-dressing as a man and has been usurped by Tutsik who sees the possibility of `managing' Hankus to compete with and distance himself from his sister's brothel business. As we would expect (and hope) Sofia and Hankus fall in love and the journey to freedom for both of them takes us one a wild ride in the atmosphere of Buenos Aires.
Much of the joy of reading Judith Katz's delightful drama is her liberal use of Jewish terms throughout her story. One minor request would be that she supply translations of those words somehow for those readers unfamiliar with the terminology. This being the second edition of THE ESCAPE ARTIST, gratefully published by Bywater books, there is an essay at book's end written by Emma Parker `Magic, Diaspora, and Klezbian Desire in Judith Katz's `The Escape Artist' that deepens the impact of the book. It begins, `This essay examines the ways in which magic articulates the traumatic effects and transformative potential of migration in Judith Katz's `The Escape Artist', a novel that constructs a woman-centered and queer counter-history of the Jewish diaspora.' It is a fine addendum to a fine novel that should have very wide audience appeal.
Grady Harp
February 20, 2017
Great literature has the ability to carry you to places where you would never oherwise get. This novel was one of those. Telling a story set in a Jewish colony of Buenos Aires in early 1900's, it painted a vivid picture of the living and abouts of the time. At the same time it was a bit of a detective story, a bit of a love story, and a bit of a HBTL story. Beatifully written, captivating characters, breathtaking events. The only disappointment was the somewhat abrupt way it ended.
March 8, 2013
I love stories about magic, but this was so much more than that. Not only about magic, but magical story in every way. This book reminded me of Tipping The Velvet, which is one of my all time favorites, so it's a huge compliment. It would be wrong to describe this book as merely a lesbian story or a historic fiction, it's both and so much more, a coming out, coming of age story set against impossible circumstances, this fairly slender volume has an epic quality to it as well as a grand adventure with amazing larger than life (or lower than dirt) characters and, of course, magic. I'm not familiar with the author, but her writing has an absolutely marvelous spellbinding fairy tale like quality and it was an absolute pleasure to read. Highly recommended.
April 22, 2014
I decided on a five star rating for this book because of the gifted storytelling, the subject matter explored, and the care in crafting this book. The narration was unique, and the subject matter, although sometimes disturbing, is seldom explored in fiction. The writing is solid and the prose flows smoothly. I highly recommend this book for readers seeking a somewhat different reading experience.
October 6, 2014
This book was a great adventure! I was always curious as to what was going to happen next. The characters were great- really entertainingly rendered, really interesting, really well told. At first I was annoyed by the narrative style but I quickly got over it and even liked it by the end.
April 27, 2013
The book gives a good insight about the Jewish community in Latin America. The love story between the two female characters is predictable but well written.
October 11, 2016
This was an unusual read. I kept reading because I hate to quit, but I can't say I ever got into it really.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews