Fire Angels

Three weeks before Christmas on December 1, 1958, one of the deadliest fires in America took place at Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago, claiming the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns. Fire Angels is a fictional account of that fire. Fire is a central character in this story, a cunning observer that comes to life whenever a match is lit. It's a story of arson, of bravery by parents, nuns, firefighters, and medics who come to the rescue; of a falsely accused janitor; of a cover-up within the Catholic Church; of a judge who, in having to determine the juvenile arsonist's fate, is torn between loyalty to his church and justice; of a tight-knit community changed forever; and of a romance between two survivors who fall in love, and marry—at Our Lady of the Angels church.

"The story is heartbreakingly engrossing, and part of Chicago's living history." —Foreword Reviews

Elizabeth Kern, author of Wanting to Be Jackie Kennedy, and Mercy Goodhue: A Puritan Woman's Story of Betrayal, Witchcraft and Madness, is a former manager of corporate communications at Apple, a native of Chicago, and a graduate of Stanford University where she developed her passion for writing historical fiction. She lives in Petaluma, California.