Based on a true story, this powerful novel is set in Latvia's capital during the horrific Rumbula massacre when 30,000 Jews were slaughtered over two days in 1941 When Miriam and her family are rounded up and forced to live in the Jewish ghetto in Riga, Miriam chooses to give up her children to the care of a Gentile friend who will hide them. A few weeks later, Miriam, along with thousands of other Jews, is marched to the execution pits in the Rumbula forest. Incredibly, she manages to escape the carnage when night falls. Through a series of dramatic events, she finds sanctuary in the countryside, managing to hide for three years and survive the war. Consumed by guilt, she is finally reunited with her daughter. But she has lost her son. Thirty-five years later, Miriam's granddaughter, Sarah, is living in Chicago with her family. Seeking to understand her maternal family history, Sarah tries desperately to ferret out Miriam's secret. Miriam does...

Rachel is a Jew living in Kishinev, Russia. At fourteen, she has dreams of being a writer. But everything is put on hold when a young Christian man is murdered and Rachel is forced to keep the murderer's identity a secret. Tensions mount and Rachel watches as lies and anti-Jewish propaganda leap off the pages of the local newspaper, inciting Christians to riot against the Jews. Violence breaks out on Easter Sunday, 1903, and when it finally ends, Rachel finds that the person she loves most is dead and that her home has been destroyed. Her main support comes surprisingly from a young Christian named Sergei. With everything against them, the two young people find comfort in their growing bond, one of the few signs of goodness and hope in a time of chaos and violence.

Rachel, a young Jewish woman from a small town in Russia, has made an incredible journey. Forced to leave her homeland because of the anti-Semitic violence that killed her father, she made her way across land and sea to find refuge in Shanghai, China where she not only survived but managed to establish herself as a newspaper writer – no easy task for a woman at the turn of the 20th century. Now eighteen, Rachel remains separated from her sweetheart, Sergei, but she has finally realized her dream of coming to America. Arriving in California, she is inspired by the women she meets in the labor movement. She remains determined to go to school, and to continue her career as a journalist.Sergei, now in Moscow, is becoming more involved in the fight for democracy and freedom of speech. But his work distributing illegal newspapers and preparing for Gorky's revolution puts him at greater and greater risk of harsh reprisal from the Russian Tsarist government. Rachel won't let...