In this intense, sensual, intricately written book, Minna Losk is a Jewish mail-order bride transported from Odessa to bleak 19th-century South Dakota. To secure her ticket, Minna has passed tests of industriousness and kindness. But she is 16 and finds herself married to a much older and strictly Orthodox farmer whose son is the only adolescent male for a good 100 miles. They all live together in a one-room sod hut with barely any food. It's easy to condemn Minna for lusting after her

—Julie Wu