Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner

Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner 386 pages. Raisa is from a small Polish shtetl much like the one Esther's grandparents are from. Her grandparents and their family perished during the Holocaust, but her other grandparents moved to New York City in the early years of the twentieth century. Her grandfather first made his living as a cigar maker and was acquainted with the great labor organizer, Samuel Gompers.