For readers of Therese Anne Fowler's A Well Behaved Woman and Kate Quinn's The Rose Code, Grains of Sand is a historical novel by a highly accomplished historian, set mainly in New York and at its core is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. It is based on a true story—on journals and letters and family lore. The author’s grandmother and great aunt worked at the Triangle factory after a harrowing escape from Russia as young teenagers where they lost their parents, their entire family, their friends, and all of their wealth and possessions in the pogrom of 1908. It’s an extraordinary story—and the escape is a good third of the book. Barbara Berg’s great aunt—still as a teenager—soon upon arrival became one of the original founders of the union formed to regulate the horrific conditions to which the factory workers in New York (and elsewhere) were subjected. Powerful, moving, and important, this is the story of one woman’s tenacious courage against overwhelming odds in her fight for social justice that will resonate with readers everywhere.