2002, New York: Henry Holt and Company.
ISBN: 0805066861
246 pages
Annotation: A sixteen year old Irish faces the realities of America alone with her younger sister, after her other family members must return to Ireland. She forms friendships but still must fight the daily struggle of survival in harsh working conditions in the early nineteen hundreds.
Summary: Rose Nolan and her family from Ireland have just made the trek from Ireland to America. But, once they arrive Rose’s baby brother is denied entry past the port, so her father must take him back to Ireland leaving Rose’s mother and sisters. The Nolan girls make their way to a relative’s home but finds the wife and daughter’s of their relative are not very welcoming. Rose is bound and determined to find work and make way for their family in New York. She finds herself getting into circumstances that are not ideal and her mother decides to head back to Ireland, leaving Rose and her sister. Rose and her younger sister leave their uncle’s home to make it on their own. They are able to rent a small room and become friends with Gussie, who works at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Rose and her sister begin working there and experience a devastating fire at the factory that kills many people all because of deplorable working conditions. Rose’s life has been changed forever.
Rank: 4 Stars-Interesting and entertaining aspect of immigration to the United States and Ellis Island.
