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52 pages 1 hour read

Words on Fire

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Important Quotes

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“My name is Audra. In my language, Lithuanian, it means storm. But my language had become illegal. [...] Which meant I had no name.”


(Chapter 1, Page 1)

With the novel’s opening lines, Audra introduces herself and the translation of her name. By doing so, she also sets the scene of her occupied country, introducing the conflict of unjust laws. By telling readers she is nameless, she also foreshadows her transformation as she begins her journey to discover herself and what role she wants to have in the fight for Lithuania’s independence.

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“Instead, I was the girl who ducked into the shadows when we had visitors, the girl who watched life from afar but rarely participated. The girl who wanted to be more than she was but knew such a thing would be the kind of magic even my father couldn’t achieve.”


(Chapter 2, Page 2)

Audra characterizes herself as a timid girl, which stands in stark contrast to the meaning of her name, “storm.” She is self-aware and recognizes her own aspirations but does not consider them a possibility at the novel’s start. This wish foreshadows Audra's transformation into a brave, outspoken member of the Lithuanian resistance.

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“Be happy like him, be smart like him. But do not travel like him, that’s not for you.”


(Chapter 2, Page 3)

Before her arrest, Audra’s mother Lina encourages Audra to emulate her father Henri in demeanor but not in his work. This demonstrates Lina’s desire to always keep Audra safe while ironically foreshadowing Audra’s continuation of her father’s book-carrying work.

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“I think we’re being watched. I passed a package to a woman in the market last week and felt a shiver run up my spine.” 


(Chapter 2, Page 9)

Audra is shocked to learn that her mother is involved in whatever covert work her father is doing, proving that even the most unsuspecting people can be part of the resistance. Lina’s fear demonstrates the danger and anxiety that book smugglers face and foreshadows her forthcoming arrest.

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“I had just lost my parents because of that package. [...] Whatever it was, it had just cost me everything I loved.”


(Chapter 3, Page 18)

Lina and Henri sacrifice themselves to let Audra deliver a package to a woman named Milda, which is the first major conflict Audra faces. Their dedication to the Lithuanian resistance comes at the steep cost of losing their daughter, but when Audra eventually understands the importance of books, this sacrifice motivates her to keep smuggling.

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“It was possible I was in the last few minutes of my life. Almost instantly, Violeta pasted a smile across her face and leaned over. ‘It’s a fern blossom, I’m sure of it. Everyone come see!’”


(Chapter 5, Page 25)

Violeta’s words add to the growing suspense of this scene by suggesting she wants to reveal Audra’s hiding spot. However, Violeta uses the mythical solstice fern blossom as a cover-up, utilizing Rusakov’s disdain for Lithuanian folk traditions against him. When the other teens rush over and protect Audra, Audra learns that to survive, she will have to trust others to help her.

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“I’m not someone you want as a friend, trust me.”


(Chapter 6, Page 37)

Lukas’s initial rejection of Audra’s request for help is ironic, as the pair later become best friends and eventually get married. From their very first conversation, Lukas is cryptic about his identity and his past. This warning also alludes to both the danger of being associated with a smuggler and the danger of being Rusakov’s son.

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“‘How do you destroy a people? You take away their culture. And how is that done? You must take their language, their history, their very identity. How would you do that?’ I pressed my lips together, then looked up at her. ‘You ban their books.’”


(Chapter 11, Page 77)

Milda tells Audra about the January Uprising of 1863 and the resulting press ban. This conversation helps Audra understand that the significance of the books is not just in their texts but in their very existence. By reading books in their own language, Lithuanians can hold onto their cultural identity.

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“Within two days, I want you to meet me here with that boy’s name and any information you have on how to find him. Do this and I will release your parents.”


(Chapter 13, Page 97)

Officer Rusakov presents Audra with an impossible offer: trading Lukas’s identity for the release of her parents. Though Audra initially thinks this is an easy choice if it means reuniting with her family, she realizes the weight of being responsible for her friend’s well-being and decides to protect Lukas. Audra begins to learn that during times of strife, moral decisions are often complicated and difficult.

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“‘The church is smuggling too?’ I was genuinely surprised that men who preached of honesty and obedience on the Sabbath day would spend the other days of the week breaking the law and encouraging others to do the same.”


(Chapter 14, Page 102)

Initially, the image of a righteous priest and the act of illegal book distribution stand in juxtaposition to each other, but Audra soon learns that the church is motivated to protect the right to pray in Lithuanian. The church’s involvement in book smuggling underscores the significance of recognizing when a law is just or not. Just as with her mother, Audra sees that the fight for independence is everyone’s fight, even those who seem unsuspecting.

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“I saw myself as the girl who defied any hold on her future because she refused to acknowledge the limits others placed on her. When I imagined the girl I wanted to be, it was the girl who smuggled books.”


(Chapter 14, Page 111)

Audra finds herself at a crossroads, trying to decide if she wants to keep smuggling or not. In this moment, she listens to her inner voice and realizes that the version of herself she dreams of is, in fact, attainable. With the decision to keep smuggling, Audra harnesses a sense of agency over her life and her future.

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“By the third snap, I’d had enough. I couldn’t sit here and listen to this, wouldn’t sit here and let it happen.”


(Chapter 16, Page 125)

Audra witnesses a soldier whip Lukas’s back as punishment for being caught with Lithuanian books. This scene not only showcases the brutality of the Cossack soldiers, who were willing to harm children, but also teaches Audra how to be brave to save her loved ones. This is one of the many moments she experiences where she learns that she can take control of a situation instead of remaining helpless.

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“We’re all at risk of becoming the snake one day. The moment we start to choose what’s easy or safe, instead of choosing what’s right, we start to become like the snake.”


(Chapter 17, Page 137)

The stories of Rue that Lukas tells Audra, which she eventually expands on her own, are symbolic of Lithuania’s fight against Russia. While Audra is confident that Lukas could never “become like the snake,” he implies that as soon as Lithuanians stop fighting for their language and their freedom, they start assimilating and become Russians. His reply reminds Audra that the right choices are often the difficult ones.

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“At first, they were only words, just as before. Words I could speak and think, so why was it necessary to read them? But slowly, almost without my realizing what was happening, the words came to mean more because of how they were combined with other words. Words became ideas and thoughts, and it was just as Lukas had said—those thoughts were seeds that sprouted new ideas in my mind, growing and taking me to places I’d never even known existed. Words! They weren’t simply a formation of letters to identify an object or an action. How could they be so little when one sentence set my heart pounding and another caused me to gasp with delight? How could they mean nothing when they lingered in my mind, followed me into my dreams, and challenged everything I’d always believed?”


(Chapter 19, Page 148)

A major turning point for Audra is learning how to read. Though she initially understands the significance of books written in Lithuanian, it is only after she becomes literate that she understands the full power of the written word. This new understanding inspires her to keep smuggling books and even write her own stories.

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“You’re good at this because you think differently than the rest of us. If the logical thing is to turn right, you turn left and then suddenly it makes sense. I’m not here to teach you, Audra. You need to teach me.”


(Chapter 31, Page 234)

Despite her young age and lack of experience, Lukas recognizes that Audra’s naturally quick and innovative thinking makes her a great smuggler. Nielsen uses other characters’ perceptions of Audra to characterize her to readers and help Audra see herself as stronger and more competent than she believes.

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“But now I had grown into my name. I was the storm.” 


(Chapter 32, Page 241)

Audra's sense of self has actualized through her last book-carrying venture across the Prussian border, and she has become the person the meek version of herself had dreamed of. The metaphor of the storm is one of power and relentlessness—qualities Audra now embodies as she understands how great the purpose of her work is.

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“I don’t have a good feeling about this trip.”


(Chapter 34, Page 256)

Ben has reservations about Lukas and Audra crossing the border in his place. While Audra recognizes that any border crossing mission is unsafe, Ben’s statement magnifies the suspense and foreshadows the children’s difficulty crossing back into Lithuania and the Kražiai church massacre, which results in Ben’s death.

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“I haven’t been home since then. I don’t even know if my home is still there. You’ll understand why when you hear my father’s name.”


(Chapter 38, Page 286)

Lukas’s past and family remain a mystery to Audra until they almost jeopardize their border crossing. He finally confesses that Rusakov is his father, and Nielsen utilizes this plot twist to show how confusing and fraught relationships can become during times of conflict that require alliances. Lukas’s sense of familial loss and lack of home juxtapose Audra’s experience.

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“‘I remember once seeing my friends reading a Lithuanian book, and when they realized I’d seen it, they dropped the book and ran from me in fear. From me, Father, simply because of the language of the book! I picked it up, determined to understand why those words were so dangerous to the tsar. Do you know what it was? A simple fairy tale of a girl named Rue,’ Lukas said.”


(Chapter 40, Page 298)

This memory offers a glimpse into Lukas’s decision to identify solely as a Lithuanian rather than half-Russian. The trauma of being feared by his friends simply for reading prompts him to question the justice of the press ban and eventually leads him to fight for those very books. Nielsen also suggests that this memory inspires Lukas to tell Audra stories of Rue, further inspiring Audra to keep smuggling books.

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“This was Officer Rusakov, Lukas’s father. The man who had tried to save me. He’d been the one shot by the pistol.”


(Chapter 41, Page 306)

Nielsen builds suspense by making the river scene chaotic—Audra cannot figure out who tried to stop the soldier until she sees Rusakov’s wound. His attempt to save Audra marks a major transition for his character from perpetrator to ally; he has seen the error of his prior thinking and actions and no longer wants to cause suffering.

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“I’m alive because of you.” 


(Chapter 41, Page 309)

In the aftermath of the Kražiai Massacre, Audra regrets not being able to save more people. However, as people in the barn approach her to thank her for saving them, her perspective shifts to one of pride and gratitude. During her time as a book carrier, Audra begins to learn that while there is always going to be more work to do, each small victory counts, especially concerning people’s lives.

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“[...] suddenly the reasons for Ben treating me the way he did became clear. Why he hadn’t wanted me to smuggle, why I’d become more headstrong the longer I knew him. Why he wanted to keep me safe. Ben was my grandfather.” 


(Chapter 42, Page 314)

After spending most of the novel wondering what the locked book her parents gave her held, Audra finally learns the truth. Ben’s relationship to Audra is one of the several family secrets of the novel and a choice that was made for fear of its consequences. This revelation further confirms that book carrying is “in her blood,” which is precisely why Ben kept this secret; he did everything he could to convince Audra to stay safe, even at the cost of having a relationship with her as his granddaughter.

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“And there, below the names of my parents, Henri and Lina, and beneath the name of my grandfather, I wrote A-U-D-R-A.”


(Chapter 42, Page 316)

Audra updates her family tree by adding her name to the list. This moment serves as a physical manifestation of her connection to Ben and reinforces just how far she has come from once only recognizing the first letter of her name. Given the blank pages that follow this entry in the book, it also suggests that Audra will have more records to add as her own family begins.

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“Until one day, when the last words of the book I was reading said, ‘The end,’ and I looked up to see Milda’s eyes closed, a pleasant smile on her face, having reached the end of her own story.”


(Epilogue, Page 317)

Milda’s death is symbolic in that she is a book smuggler peacefully passing away while listening to a story. Though the death itself is not tragic, losing Milda is the third time Audra has experienced the loss of a parental adult in her life in about a decade. Just as she did with losing her parents and Ben, Audra knows that the important work of resisting the occupation cannot stop in times of grief and continues facilitating the smuggling after Milda’s death.

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“It’s happened, Audra, it’s finally happened! The press ban is over! Our books will be legal again.”


(Epilogue, Page 317)

The novel’s resolution comes with the lifting of the press ban. After a decade of living in exile, Audra is reunited not only with Lukas but also her parents. In this moment, Audra learns that all the risk and hard work has paid off, despite her moments of doubt.

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