Rachel's Hope

The Rachel Trilogy #3

by Shelly Sanders

Rachel, a young Jewish woman from a small town in Russia, has made an incredible journey. Forced to leave her homeland because of the anti-Semitic violence that killed her father, she has made her way across land and sea to find refuge in Shanghai, China. Separated from her sweetheart, Sergei—a Christian who stayed behind to make his way in revolutionary Russia—Rachel finally gets to America—to California—where she won’t let anything stop her from achieving her goal of starting a new life—not poverty, not the great California earthquake. She meets and is inspired by women’s vote activists Emma Goldman and Anna Strunsky. When Rachel and Sergei are finally reunited, they realize that they have grown to have different dreams of what it means to be free. This is the final book in the Rachel Trilogy.

Genres: Historical Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

THE NIGHT SPARROW April 1 2025/Canada
July 1 2025/UK, Australia, New Zealand

For fans of Kate Quinn and The Nightingale, a gripping story of a young Jewish girl who joins an elite Russian sniper unit and embarks on a mission targeting the highest prize of World War II: Adolph Hitler.

The Night Sparrow is a tense, engrossing tale of WW2. Based on true events, this is an improbably beautiful novel about a brutal episode in history."
— Janie Chang, author of The Phoenix Crown

https://www.harpercollins.com/product...

Daughters of the Occupation, HarperCollins, 2022, is a Canadian Bestseller, and received a Starred Review from Kirkus: “A gripping historical saga that skilfully addresses the trauma of the Holocaust.”

This historical fiction explores intergenerational trauma from the Latvian Holocaust, and was spurred by ancestors, as well as the discovery of my Jewish roots as an adult.

The Washington Post says, “The title of this haunting novel refers not only to the victims of Latvia’s Holocaust but also to their descendants, who carry the trauma of their ancestors.”

“…this is a read that will stay in the minds of those lucky enough to read it.”—New York Journal of Books

Here's a review from New York Times bestselling author Lucy Adlington (The Dressmakers of Auschwitz):
"Daughters of the Occupation is a neatly crafted saga of personal and national trauma, a story of tentative hope in a world of menace, as three generations of women strive to understand who they are, where they came from and how they can feel free."

My first three novels, Rachel’s Secret, Rachel’s Promise, and Rachel’s Hope (Second Story Press) were inspired by my grandmother’s escape from a Russian pogrom and subsequent journey to Shanghai. They received starred reviews, including Booklist and VOYA, and two were named Notable Books by the Sydney Taylor Book Awards announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Before I started weaving my family through historical narratives, I was a journalist, writing about everything from green architecture to Tourette’s Syndrome for the Toronto Star, National Post, Canadian Jewish News, Maclean’s magazine, Canadian Living, and Reader’s Digest. (I did write about family in a few pieces; it was impossible to resist when all three of my children got lice at the same time, or when we hosted a Chernobyl child.)

Reviews

[QNPoohBear]

Rachel and her family have finally made it to San Francisco after escaping Russia and staying in Shanghai. Rachel is excited to be in America where she can pursue her dream of becoming a writer. She discovers that life in America is easier for Jews in some ways but more difficult in others. They must work hard and barely seem to get ahead but things begin to look up when Rachel meets Anna, a modern, feminist Jewish-American writer who helps Rachel learn to read and write better in English in exchange for Russian lessons. Anna is going to Russia to cover the plight of the people for American papers and she promises to look up Rachel's friend Sergei. Then the San Francisco earthquake and fire threaten everything Rachel and her family have worked towards. Will she ever get to University and become a writer? Sergei meanwhile has become involved with Russian politics and the socialist workers party. He's friends with Maxim Gorky, the great writer and Revolutionary and the Czar promises liberal reforms. Sergei and his friends know that nothing much has changed and if they don't do something about it, nothing will ever change. His life will never be the same again but hope of seeing Rachel again keeps him going.

The plot of this story was very compelling. I stayed up very very late reading the book to see what would happen. I skimmed a lot of Sergei's sections because I know a bit about what happened in Russia at that time and how it led to the 1917 Revolution and frankly, anarchists and communists don't interest me much. I learned a lot about Jews in San Francisco and I especially liked Rachel's article on the pressures of assimilation. I know a lot about Jews in New York but not much about San Franscisco so I enjoyed the different setting. There is way too much going on in this story though. It could have been split into two or three other books. Sergei's story is a book in and of itself. If the author had based Anna on a real person instead of making her an actual real person, she would also deserve her own novel. I started the first book in this series Rachel's Secret but didn't finish because the motive for murder was SO stupid and the writing was very poor and juvenile. The writing style is still a little juvenile but much improved.

I really identified with Rachel very strongly. I'm not Jewish and I never experienced anything like she did but I do understand her desire and focus on education and her dream of becoming a writer. I also identified strongly with her fears and her feelings of failure. She's a very honest and sympathetic heroine. My favorite character was Anna. She sounds like my kind of woman and I have a new hero. All the other characters were very well done and memorable. Rachel's sister is a bit of a stereotype as far as sister character goes and Menaham/Marty was also a bit cookie cutter for a young boy but he had some depth to him that made him a little different from the usual little brother character. Rachel's brother-in-law Jacob and her friend Alexander round out the characters as men who embrace all America has to offer but still keep their faith in their hearts. They're drawn to strong women who know what they want and go after it. I'm not sure how realistic that is for 1907 but I liked them.

If you're looking for a book for a girl in her early-mid teens with strong female characters, this fits the bill.

[Andrea]

Completes a trilogy about a young Russian-Jewish girl's survival of the Kishinev pogrom, escape to Shanghai with her sister and an orphan they "adopted," who also survived Kishinev, and now to San Francisco, where an adventurous new life awaits. Based on the life of the author's ancestor, this is an engrossing historical fiction series for YA's; this author and series merit more recognition than they have received.

[Anna]

This is the 3rd book in the series. As with the first 2 books, the story and Rachel’s experience is interesting, I just didn’t like the way it was told in this book. The style of writing made it difficult to make emotional connections. I felt the story was all over the place and was boring at times. I really enjoyed the last half of the book. The ending was very abrupt and left more questions than answers. I kind of felt the ending meant there could be a 4th book.

[Wendy]

Finished this trilogy and want more! A good true story of brave people who did what they needed to do no matter how hard it was. They had dreams and they worked to get them to reality.