Set in the early twentieth century, Beyond the Pale follows the lives of two women: Gutke Gurvich, who apprentices as a midwife in Russia before immigrating to New York City; and Chava Meyer, also a Russian Jew, whose birth is attended by Gutke. Chava survives a pogrom that takes the lives of her parents, then she too immigrates to a life of labor, activism and love in New York City. One extraordinary section of the book deals with the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire in which many young women died." Beyond the Pale is a work that takes us deep inside diverse worlds - midwifery, the Russian pogroms, the immigrant experience, the New York suffrage movement. But at its heart is the most universal story of all: the devotion of one person to another. Here is an enduring tale of the triumph of love and courage over inhumanity.