Hidden Lives presents compelling true stories of three New York City immigrant families-one Jewish, one German, and one Italian-set in three tenement neighborhoods-the Lower East Side, the South Bronx, and Hell's Kitchen-during the first decades of the twentieth century. In each of these narratives, the central character is a woman without power and without voice. Their stories, compassionately told, bring to life statistics that record the city's stunning population growth between 1880 and 1910. The three women are Rogers's grandmothers, their stories kept secret for almost a century. She has chosen to break the silence that surrounded their lives and pay tribute to women too long hidden from view. Hidden Lives is also the story of her search for her families' past. Rogers writes, "Minnie, Margaretha, and Catherine could not share recipes or handiwork or wisdom with me. I never knew them. But I have learned to love them and cherish their heritage. I am them-Jewish and Catholic, German and Italian, tougher than I thought, more fragile, too."