Beyond the Pale

By Elana Dykewomon,

Book cover of Beyond the Pale

Book description

Winner of the Lambda Literary Award: "A page-turner that brings to life turn-of-the-century New York's Lower East Side." -Library Journal
Born in a Russian-Jewish settlement, Gutke Gurvich is a midwife who immigrates to New York's Lower East Side with her partner, a woman passing as a man. Their story crosses…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Beyond the Pale as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love this novel because it is beautifully written and dips into darkness without losing the depth of the human spirit.

The story follows Russian lesbians, Gutke and Chava along with the women they love. It is a story of women’s struggle to survive a hard scrabble daily life, a revolution in the pale, and a Russian pogrom before immigrating to New York City. These are intelligent, aware women who dare to defy the norm at their own peril.

They still live in my heart because of their love and kindness, courage, and resilience to embrace hope in the…

When I read this book the first time, I was on heroin and bumbling my way through college. But the combination of magical realism and queerness and historical fiction struck such a perfect chord that I lost myself in the music of the Dykewoman’s pages. That—a book you can lose yourself in completely—is exactly the sort of thing you want in prison. Anything that lets you utterly forget about the present even for a few moments feels like forbidden magic.

From Keri's list on to read in prison.

If you love Beyond the Pale...

Ad

Book cover of The Ballad of Falling Rock

The Ballad of Falling Rock by Jordan Dotson,

Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: “Are his love songs closer to heaven than dying?” Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard it…

Want books like Beyond the Pale?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Beyond the Pale.

Browse books like Beyond the Pale

Book cover of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Book cover of Worse Than Slavery
Book cover of Infinite Jest

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,997

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Beyond the Pale, you might also like...

Book cover of Changing Woman: A Novel of the Camp Grant Massacre

Changing Woman by Venetia Hobson Lewis,

Arizona Territory, 1871. Valeria Obregón and her ambitious husband, Raúl, arrive in the raw frontier town of Tucson hoping to find prosperity. Changing Woman, an Apache spirit who represents the natural order of the world and its cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, welcomes Nest Feather, a twelve-year-old Apache girl,…

Book cover of Bessie

Bessie by Linda Kass,

In the bigoted milieu of 1945, six days after the official end of World War II, Bess Myerson, the daughter of poor Russian immigrants living in the Bronx, remarkably rises to become Miss America, the first —and to date only— Jewish woman to do so. At stake is a $5,000…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in immigrants, New York State, and girls?

Immigrants 189 books
New York State 580 books
Girls 93 books