Rachel

Rachel Pomie is one of the main characters and part-time narrator of the novel “The Marriage of Opposites” by Alice Hoffman. Born in 1795 on the Danish-held island of Saint Thomas, the Jewish Rachel grows up rebellious. She is best friends with Jestine, a half-black daughter of a slave. She is given a sound education by her father, but has her dreams of freedom challenged by her very strict mother. To help the family business, Rachel must enter into an arranged marriage based on business with a widower twice her age, Isaac Petit. Isaac is kind and gentle, the marriage is good, and Rachel bears Isaac children. When Isaac dies, Rachel realizes she is free to do as she wishes, but is grounded by the reality of responsibility for the company and her children.

She falls in love with Frederic Pissarro, eight years younger than Rachel and a relative...