Sara Smolinsky

The main character of the story. She is ten as the story begins and living in poverty with the constant fear of being thrown out of their home for back rent and with hunger an ever-present threat. She is the youngest of the daughters but has always taken on the worry of the household as if she were a mother herself. One day, her father is arrested for striking the rent collector and none of her sisters are working. An elderly neighbor gives them fifty cents and Sara takes a quarter of it. She goes to that same neighbor and buys twenty-five herring at a penny each, selling them on a street corner for two cents. The power of making money makes her feel independent, a feeling that will drive her throughout her life.

Sara watches as her father arranges marriages for his three oldest daughters with...