Audiobook15 hours
The Lake on Fire
Written by Rosellen Brown
Narrated by Emily Lawrence
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
The Lake on Fire is an epic narrative that begins among nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants on a failing Wisconsin farm. Dazzled by lore of the American dream, Chaya and her strange, brilliant, young brother Asher stow away to Chicago; what they discover there, however, is a Gilded Age as empty a façade as the beautiful Columbian Exposition luring thousands to Lake Michigan's shore. The pair scrapes together a meager living-Chaya in a cigar factory; Asher, roaming the city and stealing books and jewelry to share with the poor, until they find different paths of escape. An examination of family, love, and revolution, this profound tale resonates eerily with today's current events and tumultuous social landscape. The Lake on Fire is robust, gleaming, and grimy all at once, proving that celebrated author Rosellen Brown is back with a story as luminous as ever.
Related to The Lake on Fire
Related audiobooks
We Shall Not Shatter: A WWII Story of Friendship, Family, and Hope Against All Odds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Best Polish Restaurant in Buffalo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strivers Row Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Stand the Storm: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King of Schnorrers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fourteenth of September: A Novel Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Half A Heart Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Cherry Harvest: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Wish I Could Say I Was Sorry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emperor of Shoes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vanished Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmma McChesney and Company Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLonesome Lies Before Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War Workers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPirate's Daughter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe King of Warsaw: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5'Til Niagara Falls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shame and the Captives: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Crimson Rooms: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadow Network Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsO Pioneers! (version 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe List Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Backlands Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immigrants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Price of A Child Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Save my Children: An Astonishing Tale of Survival and its Unlikely Hero Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvery Little Scrap and Wonder: A Small-Town Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sugar Girls: Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle’s East End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sirius: A Novel About the Little Dog Who Almost Changed History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Jewish Fiction For You
The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Liar: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hotel Cuba: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kantika Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All-Night Pharmacy: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things We Cannot Say Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting Lost Stars: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wolf and the Woodsman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Museum of Extraordinary Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cilka's Journey: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hidden Palace: A Novel of the Golem and the Jinni Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dovekeepers: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah's Key: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thread Collectors: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The German Midwife Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marriage of Opposites Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warsaw Orphan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hysteria Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Three Sisters: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Teacher of Warsaw Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Last Innocent Year: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Matzah Ball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boston Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman with the Blue Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gangsters Don't Die Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Girls of Paris Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother's Secret: Based on a True Holocaust Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Weight of Ink Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Lake on Fire
Rating: 4.136363427272728 out of 5 stars
4/5
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I just finished The Lake on Fire by Rosellen Brown last night, so am still mulling over this richly rendered novel of 1875 Chicago. The World's Fair is transforming the city's landscape with its huge Ferris wheel, but beneath the gleaming white facades is naught but flimsy lath and cardboard. A metaphor for the city itself, in which the very rich enjoy luxuries while thousands starve in the streets. Chaya and her odd, genius brother flee to the city but find it difficult to do more than survive, he as a child pickpocket, she at two jobs, rolling cigars. Like Cinderella, a wealthy man might rescue her from her drudgery, but she can barely stand the inequity of leaving everyone else behind. A novel written by a poet, who clearly loves language.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This story takes place in 1892-1894 or so in Chicago. The Columbian Exposition is an important event in it, and Jane Addams' Hull House plays an important role as well. The story follows a teen-aged secular Jewish girl and her prodigy younger brother who flee a failing farm in Wisconsin to try for a better fortune in Chicago. Their adventures lead us to understand in detail the contrast between the lives of people who work in sweat shops or sell their labor as builders and the lives of the factory owners and other wealthy people. A very good read and one of the clearest descriptions of class differences I have read. Quite relevant for our current "New Gilded Age."