Touched by Fire
- Publisher
- Tundra
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2013
- Category
- General, 20th Century, Holocaust
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781770495241
- Publish Date
- Sep 2013
- List Price
- $19.99
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 10 to 18
- Grade: 5 to 12
Description
"Let them burn. They're a lot of cattle anyway."
A factory-owner's response regarding the use of fire drills in March 1911.
Touched by Fire, Irene N. Watt's exquisite new novel, explores one family's journey as they flee from the pogroms of Russia in 1905, where the Cossacks burn villages to the ground, to Berlin, Germany, where Jews have a hard time living and working in peace, to the streets of the Lower East Side in New York. Teenage Miriam gives a first-hand account of the excitement everyone feels about going to America, the "Golden Land," the journey in steerage, the arrival at Ellis Island, and the discrimination the immigrants feel while seeking employment. When Miriam finally lands a job at the Triangle Shirt Waist Company as a cuff setter, she believes her future in the New World is finally secure. But on March 25, 1911, the fire that starts from overflowing bins of material scraps rages into what becomes known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and Miriam's life is forever changed.
About the author
In 1968 Irene N. Watts came to Canada from Britain, where she had arrived thirty years earlier from Germany, via Kindertransport. She is a writer/playwright, theatre director, and educator. Her plays for young audiences have been widely produced. Awards include a Vancouver Theatre Alliance Jessie Richardson for Goodbye Marianne (Scirocco Drama and Anchorage Press, U.S.); the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People; the Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award (Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards, 1999 and 2001); the Government of Alberta Achievement Award for Outstanding Service to Drama. Irene is a Lifetime Member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. Recent publications include Tapestry of Hope: Holocaust Writing for Young People, compiled with Lillian Boraks-Nemetz (Tundra Books).
Editorial Reviews
Praise for No Moon
"... Watts has written another great book of historical fiction. While the topic of death is very much a part of the story, she handles it in such a manger that it is not a morbid story, but one of hope and overcoming fear."
- Resource Links
"...Watts provides a fascinating account of what the great unsinkable ship was like. The catastrophe is rendered in a heartbreakingly graceful style, and Lou performs heroically in shepherding her two little girls to safety on a lifeboat in this uniquely engaging and satisfying coming-of-age historical adventure tale."
- Starred Review, Booklist
Other titles by
Seeking Refuge
Dear Canada: Hoping for Home
Stories of Arrival
Escape from Berlin
Cher Journal : Terre d'accueil, terre d'espoir
Onze récits
No Pets Allowed
Munsch at Play Act 2
Eight More Stage Adaptations
No Moon
Munsch at Play
Eight Stage Adaptations for Young Performers
Good-bye Marianne
A Story of Growing Up in Nazi Germany
