Ash Wednesday Audiobook By Paula McLain cover art

Ash Wednesday

A Point in Time collection

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Ash Wednesday

By: Paula McLain
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $1.99

Buy for $1.99

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

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.

Paula McLain’s Ash Wednesday is part of A Point in Time, a transporting collection of stories about the pivotal moments, past and present, that change lives. Read or listen to each immersive story in a single sitting.

©2022 Paula McLain. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Anthologies & Short Stories Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Short Stories Tearjerking Heartfelt
Masterful Writing • Riveting Storytelling • Brilliant Historical Fiction • Memorable Narrative • Emotional Impact
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Of the six I have listened to so far, backwards, this is the best one so far. I really enjoyed it and the narrator was fantastic.

Best of the Collection

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A very short story told by the janitor of a school for immigrant children back in the early 1900s. Fritz shares his feelings that the school is dangerous and that there is not enough attention given to safety in the immigrant areas. Things start out normally, like all of the other days, but once tragedy starts to unfold, the story is riveting. The emotion Fritz displays as things unfold really struck a chord with me. It's a sad story, yes. But beautifully written and narrated.

Beautiful written and heartbreaking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Even though this is a story about a horror that actually happened, it was written in a style that the author masterfully created. I am a huge fan of all Paula McLain has written. I am a retired school teacher and this well-written novella resonated with me. The narrater did such a superb job with this narration. This is a story that will not be forgotten by me. I look forward to reading all of the novellas in this series, and will recommend them to all book lovers I know. I hope to see future novellas available in the future. What a great idea! Thank you Paula McLain for choosing to write this story and bringing the historical tragedy to life.

Accident Waiting to Happen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While the subject matter is depressing I’m glad to have read something, even though fiction, of a real event that at least gives us something to give us a view of the victims into what may have been true emotion and horror. I have read the account of this tragedy a few times and it’s shocking how immigrants and the poor were treated. However when I think back to my primary days in school, that building was also a death trap and I didn’t live in a community of immigrants and poverty. But there has always been cut backs and shortages in schools which create these dangers. Sadly, I don’t think that will ever change.

Giving life to a very deadly tragedy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a quick read but very interesting. I enjoyed the details about the main character and his role in the event.

Short and Intriguing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not my favorite work of McLain’s, I still appreciate the work that went into researching and crafting this work of historical fiction. The closing scene describing the 7 chairs remaining around the kitchen table for decades, waiting for the lost children to come home and claim them, was especially haunting.

Another real-life tragedy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
heartbreaking story about the discrimination of immigrants in the USA. It is still happening to this day.

immigrants seen as less than

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I didn’t realize until the epilogue that this was based on an actual historical incident, a sad chapter in American immigrant history. Dramatically narrated and compelling.

Important, little known true human drama

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The way we have mistreated immigrants is deeply disturbing. We have created ghettos where those who came here to better themselves and create better lives for their families. While this man was exonerated that often not the case. I enjoyed the telling of his story.

The agony of the families.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Short, well-researched account of a forgotten tragedy that occurred in 1908, in a poor community near Cleveland, Ohio. The book itself pays tribute to the mass unmarked grave of immigrant school children. A work of fiction brings to life the forgotten dead.
Paula McClain is a brilliant writer.

Tribute to the Dead

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews