Laurie’s compassionate debut revisits the 1927 execution of Italian immigrant and suspected anarchist Ferdinando “Fred” Nicola Sacco. The narrative opens with his wife, Rosa, recounting the history of their relationship in a letter to her seven-year-old daughter, Ines, written shortly after his death. Laurie then flashes back to 1911, when Rosa first meets Fred at a dance in Milford, Mass. The two begin dating under the watchful eye of Rosa’s grandmother, but their wedding plans are derailed when Fred refuses to get married in a church and informs her father that he lost faith in God after seeing how poorly workers are treated in the U.S. Despite her family’s objections, Rosa and Fred eventually marry and start a family. The couple join a theater company, whose members, including fellow immigrant Bartolomeo Vanzetti, share Fred’s leftist leanings and introduce him to the anarchist movement. After the fatal 1920 armed robbery of a shoe factory in Braintree, Fred and Bartolomeo’s involvement with anarchists draws suspicion from the police, who charge them with the crime based on questionable eyewitness identifications. Laurie effectively conveys the emotional toll of the investigation, prosecution, and execution on Rosa, who remains unsure of the extent of Sacco’s involvement with the anarchists. Readers will look forward to more from Laurie. (Self-published)