FROM AMAZON: In this wrenching short story based on a real-life tragedy near Cleveland, Ohio, New York Times bestselling author Paula McLain reflects on one family’s perseverance in the face of the unthinkable.

On Ash Wednesday in 1908, Swiss German immigrant Fritz Hirter arrives at his children’s school, where he is the lone custodian. But soon after lessons start, a fast-moving fire breaks out—its cause is unknown, but its effects are horrifying. Although Fritz is soon cleared of any responsibility for the catastrophe, the community continues to suspect him, supremely testing Fritz and his family.

All the short stories from Amazon's A Point in Time collection, described as "a transporting collection of stories about the pivotal moments, past and present, that change lives," are available to borrow as part of an Amazon Prime membership.  Five of the stories take about 50 minutes to read; the other two are 33 and 74 minutes long.  I was intrigued by the collection because I've read other works by some of the authors.

In Ash Wednesday by Paula McLain, an immigrant school custodian is cleared but yet still blamed for a deadly Ash Wednesday fire in the badly-designed school for poor, mostly immigrant children.  The tale is based on a 1908 fire in Cleveland, Ohio, inspired by a memorial to the victims in a local cemetery. ( )

Fritz Herter, a Swiss-German immigrant, is the only custodian at his children's school. One day as he attempts to figure out why the school will not heat properly, a massive fire erupts in the school. Although Fritz does what he has been trained to do and alerts of every one of the fire so they can evacuate. Despite their fire drills, chaos reigns and the children and teachers are separated or too panic stricken to do what they have been trained on. While it is originally thought that Fritz did something to accidentally cause the fire, he is eventually cleared of the horrible accident - although the neighborhood doesn't agree and continues to make his and his family's lives miserable despite the fact that they too lost children in the fire.

This was a very good story with a wonderful narrator. Hillgartner emoted properly as the story called for it and added to the interest in the story. McLain wove a wonderful story based on true events in Ohio. She discovered the premise for this short story when walking through a cemetery and she noticed a mass grave to those who had died in the fire. ( )

A Point In Time is a collection of some amazing short stories. If I talk about my favorite story, then it would be Landing by Olivia Hawker. The plot has emotions, responsibility and love for family. Other stories are also good, it was just that some of them had a very complex ending. Although, the characters are lovely. But, still the book is not meant to skip. And, the best part is you can finish the book within a day.

I would like to give the book 4 stars. Thanks to the authors for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

Read more on bibliophileverse.blogspot.com ( )