Trigger warnings: Death of children and friends in a fire, grief and loss depiction
Score: Four and a half points out of ten.

Wow, this was terrible in every way imaginable. The story and characters were flat (especially the main character Lucy Morelli, or Lucy for short, she just wanted to be part of a workers' union and then worked in a factory and saved people when it caught fire, and that's it?), there was a plot point about unions, but it wasn't explored that much, and three of the characters died in a fire, which was horrific. The working conditions weren't explored in this book either, but they were abysmal in real life since the workers were underpaid. Lucy doesn't fight the flames, no... Rather she survives it with her life barely intact, but some...not so much. The ending was quite depressing since the book ended on a memorial procession of those who died in the fire, which was melancholy but a nice touch. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, especially not young readers. If you want to discover more about this event, research it instead of reading this novel. ( )

Massively tragic, many friends die (what else can you expect?) Yay, Unions, I mean really, YAY UNIONS. Not sure I buy Lucy wanting to be an astronomer, but it's a nice thought and I think Gilbert did an excellent job portraying the day to day lives of immigrants in turn of the century New York. Lots of good characters. The woman who kept saving Lucy was a bit of a mystery, but you can see the research and firsthand accounts shining though. ( )