Threadbare - (A Gilded City) by Jane Loeb Rubin (Paperback)

About the Book

Threadbare recounts the story of Tillie, a tenacious girl who chooses to marry rather than follow her farming community north as urban development transforms rural Harlem.

Book Synopsis

Threadbare recounts the story of Tillie, an innocent but tenacious young girl who chooses to marry Abe, a lonely widower, rather than follow her farming community north as urban development transforms rural Harlem. Convinced Abe will help her attend high school on the Lower East Side, Tillie faces a rude awakening amidst the filth and disease of the tenements. Through the following decades, she turns her energy and intelligence to partnering with Abe as he builds a thriving button business while she and her neighbor Sadie launch a unique garment company. Pushing back against anti-Semitic Victorian values dominating the time, Tillie acquires wealth only to have her life upended by a devastating, unforeseen challenge.