The Scribe of Eldridge Street

About this book

In the grimy, crowded tenements of 1895 New York City's Lower East Side, two young immigrants forge an unlikely alliance to save their neighborhood from destruction. Sam Klein, a cynical twenty-two-year-old Russian-Jewish refugee who runs a makeshift letter-writing stand, serves as an unofficial mentor to the youth of Eldridge Street. His pragmatic worldview is challenged when he meets Sofia Moretti, a fiercely determined sixteen-year-old Italian orphan carrying her family's sacred, threadbound journal. Seeking Sam's help to translate the recipes and oral histories into English, they soon discover the journal contains coded notations about a forgotten mutual-aid society. As a ruthless landlord backed by corrupt politicians begins torching buildings to clear land for warehouses, Sam and Sofia must decipher the journal's secrets to fund legal resistance. Navigating child labor inspectors, a devastating diphtheria outbreak, and a painful betrayal by one of their own, the duo races to unite their fractured immigrant community. Together, they must gather testimonies and present their case to the city council before the only home they have left is reduced to ashes.

Book details

Genres:

Historical Fiction, Young Adult

Language:

en

Published:

2026-05-01

Content rating:

PG-13