The Marriage of Opposites

This is the newest of Alice Hoffman's novels, which tells the story of Rachel Pomié, the woman who was to become the mother of Impressionist painter Camille Pizzarro. She grew up in a Jewish family on the island of St. Thomas, when it was still a territory of Denmark (early 1800's). The Jews had been driven from one place to another and so could not be blamed for feeling that this sanctuary under Danish rule was precarious and that should do their best not to draw any undue or negative attention to themselves. This led to a strictly proscribed life, however. Women had no rights, children should obey their parents and follow in their parents' footsteps whenever possible, and no one must marry outside their religion, much less outside their race.
This is a tale filled with forbidden loves. When Rachel's infant brother dies of a fever, her mother takes in a baby boy and raises him as her son and favored child. Only much later do we learn who Aaron really is. Aaron and Rachel's best friend, Jestine, fall in love but are forbidden to marry because Jestine is the daughter of the Pomié's African maid, Adelle. Before Aaron is sent away to France to work in the family business there, Jestine becomes pregnant. When Aaron eventually returns with a French wife, they kidnap his daughter and Jestine does not see her again for decades.
Rachel is married off to a much older man, a widower with three children, to help her father's business ( shipping and trading) stay solvent. She never comes to love Monsieur Petit, but he is kind and they have several children together before he dies in his 50's. A handsome young nephew,  Frédéric Pizzarro, comes from Paris to run the family business, and now Rachel falls passionately in love. Of course she is forbidden to marry because he is family, but they nevertheless become lovers and eventually have children together, including Jacob Abraham Camille. They continue to petition their community for acceptance of their marriage, which comes only much later, after years of social exile that profoundly affect the family. 
There is a  lot of story here, but perhaps more compelling is the abundance of character and atmosphere. Rachel dreams of escaping St. Thomas and going to Paris and both of these locales are described in evocative images. The prose is lush and wraps you in feelings, place and dreams. You understand what it feels like to be constrained by custom and to yearn for more--and then to carry those constraints with you even after you have escaped. I have read other books by Hoffman, and, although I am not a big fan of magical realism, this one really got under my skin.
More reviews: Kirkus, NPR, The New York Times