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Title: Cousin Bella

Subtitle: The Whore of Minsk

Author: Sherman Yellen

Narrator: Robert Armin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-14

Publisher: Sherman Yellen

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Cousin Bella - The Whore of Minsk recounts the life of prize-winning playwright Sherman Yellen's immigrant relative, who as a young Jewish woman in Russia was sold into prostitution, rescued by the author's indomitable grandmother, and immigrated to America where the most extraordinary drama of her life was yet to unfold. Bella, a childless woman, driven to acts of deception by her desperate love for another woman's child, recounted her life to the author in her last years; a story confirmed by the author's family. A gripping tale of a fierce love that led to child theft, incest, disgrace, and ultimately survival, Cousin Bella presents a vivid portrait of immigrant life in the first part of the 20th Century; a story where truth is both stranger and more astonishing than any fiction.

Members Reviews:

Raw, honest and devestating

Sherman Yellenâs COUSIN BELLA is a devastating book. Riveting, raw â honest and brutalâthis is a world that we rarely see portrayed in the myriad Jewish literature. In the vein of Malamud but telling a story so bizarre it could only be true, Yellen paints the pain of unusual heroes â both victims and survivors. The titular Cousin Bella is an enigma. Bella rises from a torturous horror of a childhood, damaged but unbowed, only to make choices that are heartbreakingly understandable and yet terrible and terrifying. As always, Yellen writes with a unique passion but enough distance to create a wholly realized person in a fragmented world.

Beautifully told

Imagine yourself in Sherman Yellen's spacious living room. "Let me tell you about my cousin Bella", he says. And you sit entranced from the beginning of the story to the end as he shares with you the feelings of the ugly girl, the amazingly strong and audacious grandmother, and their responses to the incredible circumstances of their lives in Russia and the U.S.

Like a baroque romantic tragedy, the story itself fascinates. As one reads, Yellen's word usage and writing style places the reader so firmly in the context that one may look up from the book to see the bordello in Minsk, the apartment in Brooklyn, or the architect offices in NYC.

"Truth stranger than fiction", beautifully told. I cannot wait for the release of Mr. Yellen's complete biography.

I Literally Couldn't Put It Down

I opened this book as soon as it arrived and I flipped through pages until I reached the brief story, "A Christmas Lilly," which I found thoroughly charming. Then I went to the beginning to read "Cousin Bella." The phrase "I couldn't put it down" is doubtless trite and overused, but in this case it's totally accurate. I read this remarkable story (actually, it's more than one story) all the way through at a single sitting. The story of Cousin Bella, her husband Sam, and the other people who live in these pages is riveting of itself, but Sherman Yellen's skills as a playwright bring the people to life. I spent only a short time with them, but I'll never forget them, and I thank Mr. Yellen for introducing them to me.

A magnificent memoir of a lost woman in a lost time

A young woman sold into sexual slavery, rescued by the author's grandmother, comes to America and lives a life of extraordinary drama.