Fire in the Springs - Paperback

by Lisa Schliff (Author)

Where do two young Orthodox Jews in love land during the American Civil War?

Somehow they find themselves in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but why? At thirteen, Rosalia suffers a sexual assault and her reputation is damaged in her hometown of Gliewitz, Germany. She must choose between a life of rejection or a sojourn into the wild, unknown land of Arkansas, where a young man awaits who will marry her. Her journey during the mid-1800's takes the reader across the Atlantic Ocean where she is almost kidnapped by a gentleman who conceals his true career: sex trafficking of hapless immigrant women in transit to America.

Meanwhile, her betrothed Carl confronts the insults and horrors of racism, recognizing the bigotry that he thought he'd left behind in Germany. His love for Rosalia keeps him going, but loneliness draws him to a brothel. He struggles with his lust, his love for Rosalia, and his need to make a life in a new land.

This is a story of love, passion, racism, forgiveness and the clash of cultures when people immigrate during profound historical eras.