Pre World War One, Elsa came to America with her eyes wide open, realizing it was up to her to make a life for herself. Surviving a sweat shop in lower Manhattan, a chance job with a Long Island elite family opens up her world. Invited in up to a point, she unwittingly, albeit precariously, crosses the social divide with her now open heart, which puts all she had worked for in jeopardy.

Excerpt

As soon as the girls entered, Beth’s mother bounded forward from the back of the flat.

“Oh, oh, I’m so glad.” She clapped her hands, and then hugged her guest.

Elsa wasn’t used to being hugged—she would have pulled away but the woman’s embrace was swift and enveloping.

“I’m Josephine. Now you sit down right there so we can get started. The sooner we send you home the better it will be.”

She directed Elsa toward a chair at a small table. Josephine pulled up another chair beside her. Beth sat on the floor.

It was a small room, made to seem smaller by all the pictures on the walls and little keepsakes on counters and shelves. One or two pictures might have been of family, and there were several images of Jesus. But most of the pictures looked like they had been cut out of a magazine or catalogue only because they were pretty. It gave the room lighthearted warmth that put Elsa at ease.

She couldn’t understand how Beth’s mother had seemed to know she was coming. She hadn’t told Beth her dilemma until that morning. It dawned on her how much she had already revealed of her family’s situation to her friend.

Josephine laid a Bible open in front of Elsa. She set a piece of paper beside it. On the paper she wrote the vowels and made Elsa say them, then showed her where the letters fit within the titles of the Bible books. They started with the prophets: AMOS, EZEKIEL, ISAIAH, and OBADIAH were the first Bible books Elsa learned to recognize. She remembered hearing about Isaiah in church but hadn’t heard of the other ones.

“We don’t have a Bible book that starts with the last vowel,” Josephine explained. “But there is a very important place in the Bible that starts with the letter U. It was called UR.” She wrote it on the page, using, as she had thus far, only capital letters. “There was a man who lived there named ABRAHAM.”

As she wrote the new name, Elsa excitedly pointed back at AMOS.

“Yes,” Josephine said. “And look. Abraham has the letter A in his name three times.”

With that, she began to explain how the letters connected with one another in the words.

By the time Elsa left, her head was full of stories: Abraham’s journey to a new land, the prophets and their adventures, and many more. She promised to come back every day after work.

It was very late when she returned to her tenement. The building was dark. She was exhausted and hungry after her long walk but didn’t expect any dinner. Josephine had offered her food, but she had been taught not to accept charity.

The apartment was quiet when she entered. Her father slept, and Sonja pretended to sleep. But Nina was waiting up for her.

Elsa endured the belt in silence. It didn’t anger her. She had been rebellious and deserved it; it was her mother’s right to punish her. What angered her was that her father didn’t even seem to notice her absence. Her mother cared—and was worried. That was why she punished her.

Elsa’s heart went out to her mother as she took her whipping. How hard it would be to feel she was losing control over her life after working so hard for a stable family. Elsa was just beginning to work toward her own dreams.

She stumbled into bed, exhausted and in pain, but happy. The throbbing of her back paled in comparison with the thrill of her new knowledge and the hope of new opportunities.

Once their mother was in bed in the second room, Sonja pulled out a piece of bread she had hidden under the blanket and handed it to Elsa. She accepted it gratefully. After biting off each piece, she held it in her mouth to soften it so her mother wouldn’t hear her chewing. It was enough to sustain her into the next day.

The next two nights progressed exactly the same way. Elsa came home late, endured a whipping, and supped on whatever morsel Sonja had managed to hide for her. On the fourth night the whippings ceased. By the next week, a cold meal began to appear for her, and she knew she had succeeded.

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About the Author

This moving debut novel by Gregory Erich Phillips won the grand prize in the Chanticleer Reviews International Writing Competition. From a prolific literary family, Gregory tells aspirational stories through strong, relatable characters that transcend time and place. Living in Seattle, Washington, he is also an accomplished tango dancer and musician.

Website: http://www.gregoryerichphillips.com

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