CABS: Talia Carner “The Third Daughter”

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Even those who con­sid­er them­selves well-versed in Jew­ish his­to­ry will feel sur­prised — even hor­ri­fied — by the sto­ry told in Talia Carner’s new nov­el, The Third Daugh­ter. Set in the late nine­teenth cen­tu­ry, it tells of a Jew­ish-run syn­di­cate who sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly kid­napped young women from East­ern Europe for the pur­pose of sell­ing them as pros­ti­tutes in Buenos Aires. Care­ful­ly researched and metic­u­lous­ly nov­el­ized, Carn­er tells the sto­ry of Batya, the third of many daugh­ters of a strug­gling Russ­ian milk­man. Batya’s two old­er sis­ters have already gone astray — one mar­ried a rev­o­lu­tion­ary and the oth­er, a gen­tile. Exis­tence is uncer­tain, and pogroms reg­u­lar­ly dec­i­mate entire shtetls. Echoes of “Fid­dler on the Roof” are unavoid­able, but the par­al­lels stop when Batya, at four­teen, catch­es the eye of what seems to be a rich, eli­gi­ble man from “Amer­i­ca.” Smooth and redo­lent with cologne, he promis­es Batya’s father that he will mar­ry her when she is six­teen — mean­while keep­ing her safe with his sis­ter. The patri­arch imag­ines a gild­ed world in which his daugh­ter will ride in car­riages and dine on fine chi­na. Lit­tle does he know that there are will be no mar­riages or car­riages. 

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You can purchase The Third Daughter through online retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound) and in person at Barnes and Noble on 725, across from the Dayton Mall. 

Talia Carner is formerly the publisher of Savvy Woman magazine and a lecturer at international women’s economic forums. An award-winning author of five novels and numerous stories, essays, and articles, she is also a committed supporter of global human rights. Carner has spearheaded ground-breaking projects centered on female plight and women’s activism.  She is a committed supporter of global human rights and has spearheaded projects centered on the subjects of female plight and women’s activism. Her five novels have been hailed for exposing society’s ills, the latest of which is The Third Daughter (HarperCollins, September 2019.)  Set in Buenos Aires in the late 1800s, it is the story of a Jewish girl caught in sex trafficking. Talia Carner has given over 300 keynote speeches and presentations about the social issues behind her novels to civic, educational and religious organizations. She lives in New York and Florida.