A Petal in the Wind

May 1899: Luska, “almost eight,” lives with her pregnant Mama and disabled Papa in a shtetl—one of the small villages that dot the Russian countryside. A clever and resourceful girl, she knows why everyone in her village worries about pogroms. But her parents’ teachings and whispered fears can’t prepare Luska for the coming horror, when the Cossacks destroy her shtetl, and everything, and everyone in it. By luck she is spared, but left orphaned, alone and with only a bundle of old clothes. The memory of her parents helps her, and she finds her way to the city. But their memory can’t truly protect her from deceit when Rabbi Hershel and Rebbetzin Naomi Zedek take her in. The grand Zedek home provides refuge, but no relief from Luska’s nightmares, which disrupt the family. After she clashes with the couple’s eight-year-old son, Hershel makes it clear Luska’s stay must be temporary. Blinded by sorrow, she seeks comfort from Naomi, unaware of the matriarch’s plan for Luska’s future, or the mystery behind the unoccupied child’s room in which she’s staying. When she uncovers the tragic secret behind the room and how it led to Naomi’s duplicity, Luska must find a way to move past tragedy and deception. Otherwise she’ll drift through life like a petal in the wind…