Briar Rose" and "The Accident" are both stories told by Holocaust survivors that take the reader back to the days of concentration camps, reveal the horrors of their experiences, and show how they are forced to deal with them decades later in completely different worlds. Both stories take place in modern day, where people are the survivors cannot fathom such horrific acts. Both survivors deal with their pain by shutting down but both have different ways of finding peace.

Jane Yolen's "Briar Rose" tells the story of the main character, Becca, and her search to discover her dead grandmother's past. The story mixes present day with memories of the Holocaust, and is written like "Sleeping Beauty," the fairy tale. When her grandmother, Gemma, dies, Becca finds several clues to her past: a box with keepsakes, old pictures, a ticket stub, a man's passport, an engraved ring, and newspaper clippings. Becca...
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