Sanders, Shelly

Rachel has escaped the anti-semitic violence of her home town in Russia, and has finally arrived in California to start a new life despite the challenges of poverty and the great California earthquake.

In 1903, Rachel, a Jew who left Russia with her family on the Trans-Siberian Railway to the coast to board a ship for Shanghai, China, and her friend Sergei, who left home for a factory job in St. Petersburg and joined rebelling workers, write letters to one another, describing the challenges they face and hope for their futures.

As a Jew living in Kishinev, Russia, in 1903, Rachel has seen a lot of dark times. She doesn't want the society standard life of a mother and wife. She would much rather be a writer. When her Christian friend Mikhail is murdered, everything turns on the Jews--the Christian community becomes outspokenly violent and anti-Semitic. Only her friendship with and growing love for Sergei, a Christian, keeps Rachel's hopes alive.