Ashes of Roses. It links to literature.

For my link to laterature, I chose the book Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch.

Rose Nolan is a sixteen year old girl who is originally from Ireland who's family decides to come to America. Rose and her family are all excited to come to America and they all can't help but wonder what their new life is going to be like and they can't wait to see all the new opportunities America brings, since they never have been out of Ireland. But once Nolan family gets to America, the struggles begin when they reach land.

The officers at Ellis Island are told to inspect every single immigrant that passes through their doors to make sure they aren't bringing any illnesses in with them. While the officers are doing a necessary eye exam on Rose's baby brother, they find he has an eye infection called trachoma which is normally caught from being on the ships. Due to him having trachoma, he isn't allowed to enter the united states and that he has to go back to Ireland right away. Rose's dad takes him back to Ireland and promises his family that he'll save money and come back to America one day when the babies eyes are healthier and meet up with them.

Rose's mom is completely upset by this. she's now left alone in an unfamiliar country with 3 daughters and no one to help her. She takes the kids to a nearby relatives home. When they arrive at the house, they find a note telling them that they are not welcome and to leave. 

After awhile, the mom decides to just go back to Ireland where they won't have any struggles and will be a complete family and most of all, where they have a home to go to where they aren't turned away. But when Rose's mom tells her daughters, Rose refuses to go. Telling her mom that she wants to be an "American girl" and she promises to find a job and promises to be able to take care of herself if she's allowed to stay. She's sure that if she saves enough money, they can all become a family again.

Rose's mom allows her to stay. But after this choice was made, Rose's 12 year old sister begs to stay too. Because she's completely exhausted, Rose's mom allows her to stay as well. She thinks the girls will come to their senses and just go back to Ireland, but they still refuse.

Rose eventually finds an apartment and a job sewing in a factory making woman's shirts. Rose has a strong love for her job and enjoys the freedom she gets from it. She gets to see a movie for the first time  and is able to pay for her own rent. She feels like she's making progress in America. 

But one afternoon, a fire breaks out in the factory she works at and ladders from the fire trucks don't reach the 9th floor where the fire is. All the doors are locked because the owners routinely sealed the doors to keep employee theft rates low. Now that most girls are trapped inside, most leaped out the windows to their deaths and many others were burned by the fire. Out of the 500 employees, 146 died.