I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire from 1911 New York City. This is a tragic, and important, historical event. This book shed like on individuals and families (even if fictionalized) who were impacted by this event. I enjoyed following the stories of Rosie, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and Maria, a Catholic immigrant from Italy, in their arrival and struggle for survival. I didn't connect as much with Maria as a character in the book (I found her to be too immature). I think this would be a great book potentially for high school classrooms to learn more about immigration and the labor movement.

Fiery Girls is a historical fiction novel that follows Maria, an Italian immigrant, and Rosie, a Russian immigrant, who have set off to chase the "American Dream" in early 1900's New York. Both are seamstresses who find work in various factories. They become disillusioned when they experience the terrible working conditions notorious in those unregulated times. Maria and Rosie are introduced to union activities and begin finding their voices.

I learned about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in school, but this book puts a magnifying glass on the event. I was so shocked, angered, and saddened reading about this event that could have been prevented if not for the greed of the factory owners.

This book is the exact reason I enjoy reading historical fiction. I put down the book with a lot more knowledge on a topic than I had before reading. And I will remember the events of the story because of the strong characters and vivid descriptions.

Fiery Girls follows the fictional story of two real immigrant girls working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory leading up to the fire. Rosie is a Russian Jewish girl who came to America ahead of the rest of her family. She befriends Maria, an outspoken Italian, who becomes very involved in the workers union. I appreciated that this story focuses on the activism of these girls and highlighted that there are multiple ways to participate in a movement than just making speeches. Rosie learns how to use her strengths to help the union and it's a great message for YA readers. However, I will say that around the 50% mark, I did get a bit bored until the fire broke out.I There was just a bit of a lull in the plot before it picked up again. I cannot help but compare this to Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix, which was my favorite book in middle school and I to this day still think about sometimes. Fiery Girls just didn't hold my attention as well as it could have but the historical research was fantastic.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

I received this book for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

my friends and I have been talking about this and I hadn't known anything about the history behind the events that took place. I am so glad that I was able to read the book and understand just a little bit about what these amazing heroes went through.

This book will take you back to the lower east side of New York in the early 1900s. Follow two young immigrant women as they find the way to fight for women’s rights.

FIERY GIRLS by Heather Wardell

Fiery Girls is based upon a true story of the Triangle Fire in New York City, it was a shirtwaist factory. The story follows the dual narration of Rosie, a Jewish girl from Russia, and Maria, a Catholic girl from Italy. Maria's older brother Vincente also has come to America, so that they both can work and send money home to help support their parents.

Rosie's parents want her to only work for a Jewish-owned factory. Maria has a secret goal of paying for the passage of the young man that she loves, so they both can live in America and be together.

Maria becomes involved in the Local 25 Union for the poor employees of the garment factories because the owners don't care about their employees and most of the employees are women and girls, who are paid at a much lower rate than the men are.

On the day of the fire, some people are able to run for safety, but many are unable to escape. Trapped in a burning building, being burned alive, or feeling forced to jump from the ninth floor to the ground below. Of all of the employees who jumped, no one survived. The fire is in the Asch Building, which is still standing today. The building was touted as unburnable, which it was, but everything and everyone inside it burned.

This is quite a sad time in American history, when factory owners don't care about their workers, with little to no penalty for causing over 100 deaths of innocent workers. I'm very thankful there are rules and regulations, and yes unions to protect the workers. The suffrage movement helped the women get equal pay for equal time but the unions are instrumental in protecting the workers, in making sure they are taken care of while they are in the workplace.

The book has some dramatic moments because what happened in the Triangle Fire is not a rosy picture. Highly recommend.

Much gratitude to #netgalley for the complimentary copy of #fierygirls I was under no obligation to post a review.

A wonderfully engaging, detailed, and heart-wrenching novel about a tragic historical event that has been, for the most part, lost to time. Wardell writes the tragedy with such poignancy and vivacity that one cannot help but shed a tear for all the girls who lost their lives that day and in other fires caused due to negligence. A brilliant example of informative and emotional historical fiction.

Both Russian born Rosie and Italian born Maria come to American in 1909 to live the American dream. Instead they are both working in horrible conditions in shirtwaist factories. Eventually Rosie is fed up and joins the union, headed by the fiery Clara. Maria, angry at all men after being jilted by her boyfriend at home, joins the picket line and is promptly arrested with Rosie and sent to a workhouse for five days. Maria comes back determined to be a voice for the Union and the girls who are treated badly by the men who run the factories. Together Rosie and Maria fight to get better hours and pay for all the women in the union. But when they finally return to work it is to the ill-fated Triangle Shirtwaist Factory just in time for it to become one of the deadliest fires in American history. Armed now with pain and loss, the girls who survive continue to fight for the union, but is the American dream truly work it, or should they just go home?

This book was well researched and so engaging. I fell in love with both Rosie and Maria's stories. As a lover of history, getting to go through Ellis Island with them, become factory girls, unionize, and go through such a horrific historical event was unbelievable. Heather Wardell is a wonderful writer and I will be seeking out more of her books.

*I was provided an ARC by Netgalley and the publisher for my honest review.

Thanks to the publishers, author, & NetGalley for this e-arc.

Set in early 20th Century New York this novel follows two new immigrants: Rosie, a young Jewish woman from Russia, and Maria, a young Italian woman. The two form a friendship during their time working as seamstresses in the factories of Manhattan's Garment District. The young women explore life away from home for the first time. Friendship, love, and identity are all explored in the context of the immigrant's dream and the reality of the non-union labor conditions of the 1910s. It is the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of March 1911 which changes their lives forever.

I'll echo another reviewer who called this excellently researched novel a great introduction to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Americans can and should be proud of their immigrant ancestors, many of whom began their new lives through Wardell's Ellis Island.

This is my first read of Wardell's and I look forward to enjoying more.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of the book.

The book is about two young girls, one is a Jewish girl from Russia and the other an Italian from Italy who both come to the US, to NYC, via Ellis Island. It starts with their experience of "coming off the boat" and you get a real feel for what it was like just to experience this. I felt especially connected to this as that is how my grandfather came to this country from Italy.

We then experience their lives, parallel to each other, as they make their way to living and surviving in NYC until they come to meet and become fast friends.

The history of the union is positively fascinating and the author weaves in real people, and you will come to know Clara and not only will you admire her but you may find yourself doing some Google searches to learn more - like I did.

As you are reading through this you will find yourself experiencing their lives with them but with the foresight of knowing what is looming ahead. The author does a superb job of writing about the terrible tragedy and the aftermath.

A very good read!

Bringing to life one of the most tragic fires in history, Heather Wardell has written a stunner with "Fiery Girls."

Based around the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Wardell tells the story of immigrants and factory life. The historical time period is well written, I was swept right onto Ellis Island, waiting in those lines, with all the others full of nerves and hopes.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

An empowering historical fiction featuring two 'fresh off the boat' immigrant women working at the Triangle Waist Company, where later a fire killed 146 people and changed the history.
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The story was told from the perspective of the two ladies. They were from totally different backgrounds: one is Jewish Russian and one is Italian. But they were very similar: they both arrived in a foreign land without anything but liability, and they were both powerless. They felt realistically ordinary: they could have been your relatives, your friends, and even you. They were faced with the same dilemma: would you rather bear the guilt, or the consequences of a strike that deprives you from everything, but may potentially reform the labour conditions? I felt very intrigued (but also confused why there were two of them).
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The beginning of the book was very well written. You could feel the raw emotions and their struggles intimately. Sadly, I didn't feel very attached to the main characters in the end (even though they felt very realistic). One of the girls was of marriageable age but she talked as if she just started her puberty. The fact that I remembered her lover's name and not hers says everything... There was a complete change in her worldview and her personality in the middle of the book that didn't convince me. The stories of the two main characters complement each others, but it felt rather trivial. Replacing the Italian girl with Clara, the historical figure who ignited the strike, would make the story far more interesting. I really wish I could read more about Clara when I was reading this book.
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I thank @netgalley for this ARC and the author for her well researched work and informative notes. It's overall a nice read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to feel what the immigrants feel and to be transported to the twentieth century America temporarily. I found myself googling Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire after completing this book (it's so interesting!). And I'm glad that I could read more about Clara Lemlich on internet (what a person!!).

What a beautiful story about two girls from completely different backgrounds finding their way in a distant location, becoming friends and coming into their own in such unique ways. Fiery girls follows Rosie, a Jewish girl from Russia sent to work in the United Stated to ultimately bring over the rest of her family, and Maria, an Italian daddies girl, who has never had to do much, sent over to the US with her brother to help contribute financially to the family's restaurant business.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the 'American Dream' from these two very different perspectives. What motivates these young women to become part of a union, what internal struggles they face in remaining on the union or taking a more active role in the union. At the same time, there is an inkling of romance which brings its own issues and brings a bit of breeziness to the story.

All of this of course set to the background of the horrendous Triangle Factory Fire, an event I honestly knew next to nothing about. Fiery Girls offered an insight in the (working) conditions that could lead to such a disaster, and all while reading this book I could not help but thinking that, unfortunately, in lots of places globally we have not come such a long way as one would hope.

All in all this book did what a good historical fiction should do (at least in my opinion), it gave me a good story, introduced me to a cast of believable individuals with their own struggles and backstories, all the while educating me about an important piece of history. Well done to Heather Wardell!

What an absolutely wonderful book! This was one of my favorites reads of 2021 - and by far the best I've ever read about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. Lovers of historical fiction who want something new, buy this book!

This book is one of the best books that comes out in 2021! This 25th March to be exact! Grab your copy. You won't be disappointed.

This book is so well written! Ut gave me all the Kristin Hannah vibes regarding the writing, the characters (women focused, historical fiction, strong female characters, realistic plot based on true historical events).

Exceptional writing I would say. Once I started reading the first page,I just couldn't stop until I reached a point where I had to stop to sympathize with the characters. They become so close and dear to you the more chapters you read.

The story is fast-paced for a historical fiction. The characters are upbeat. There's this way of writing that makes you wonder what's coming in the next sentence and that's why I wouldn't complaint if it was more longer!

Reading the entire book made me feel so empowered. These women characters (Rosie and Maria) from whose POVs the story is being told, are amazingly represented. Both characters shine throughout the read inspite of the way they were mistreated and under worse circumstances.

This book just made into my best reads of 2021!

Thank you, author and the publisher for the advance reading copy.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Rosie and Maria meet and become friends working together at the Triangle Waist Company. March 25, 1911, when a discarded cigarette sets the factory ablaze, 146 people die that day."

An okay read. I've read other books about the shirt waist fire, I think this would be a good intro book for those who aren't as familiar with the history of it and enjoy a light romance, especially younger readers.

3☆

I LOVED this book so much that it's hard to even know where to start... The characters, for being only teenagers, were well-developed and so easy to relate to. I enjoyed their backstories and how those shaped who these young women became in America and how they came to fight for their rights (Plus, I crave stories with women learning who they are and how much they deserve and how to have the strength to get it). Even though they were young and I'm past that stage in my life, I could easily put myself in a teen's shoes again to see the world as they were seeing it. It was incredibly easy to feel what the girls were feeling as they came into America, afraid and hopeful. I could sense their pride as they worked hard to send money to their parents back home. I felt like a girl with a crush again as they met the men who took them to the Nickelodeon or bought them dinner. Wardell did such an amazing job making it easy to feel empathy for all the characters; she allows you to step into their shoes and I loved the experience.

This book made me laugh on so many occasions and cry (so much crying) toward the end. I knew the premise of the book, but I didn't realize how much it was going to wring me out to read about the 1911 Triangle fire and those who tragically died. I spent a long time sobbing last night, picturing how gut-wrenching that fire must have been. I did really like the ending, but I won't spoil it.

Even though it was written from the viewpoint of teenagers, it didn't feel overly "young" to me. These young women face some very adult problems in the pages of this book and I never once felt like I was reading a teen diary or anything of the sort. If I could complain about anything, I wish I could have read even more about Clara and her work with the union committees. Wardell masterfully wrote a story that I think even adults such as myself can get a lot out of. I know I won't be forgetting this one anytime soon.

Plus, the COVER. That cover is what drew me in to start and I absolutely adore it!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the privilege to read the ARC. This is one I will buy to read again.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is one of the worst tragedies in NYC history, Fiery Girls follows two immigrant girls, Maria and Rosie as they get swept up in early labor movements among garment factory workers. I think this is a good introductory historical novel for anyone who is unfamiliar with the time period and subject matter. The think the author captured the feel of the times and the angst and frustration of the workers. She provided a brief historical note and talked about her research around NYC, especially visiting Ellis Island, which was one of my most favorite sites when I traveled to the Big Apple.