Coal Fire

Both endearing and disturbing, Coal Fire is the coming of age story of Sidney Gerstein who, as a Jewish boy growing up in a Christian coalmining town in Northeastern Pennsylvania during the 1950s, searches for the meaning of life and the Holocaust, ponders the existence of God, and explores his ethnic heritage and Jewish identity.

At times, Sidney has nightmarish experiences that leave him emotionally shaken, guilty, and confused. Coal Fire, on another level, tells about a time of major economic and social upheaval in the coalmining region, and how these societal disturbances impact Sidney and his extended family.