University of Iowa alumna Ethel Kjaer Barker, an author and a retired reading educator in Iowa City, will read from For the Love of Pete at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the UI Writing University website.

For the Love of Pete introduces the reader to Iris and her sister Rosie, who, following the murder of their mother, flee a New York tenement and begin their struggle to survive on the streets of a squalid slum. After three hungry days, the girls meet a self-proclaimed “street rat” named Pete, who buys them food and treats them with kindness. Loyalty to one another provides them with the courage needed to persevere through one shocking event after another as they are taken on the Orphan Train from New York City to Iowa. In spite of their longing to be reunited, Iris, Rosie, and Pete are forcibly and unjustly kept apart. Each of the three children tells his/her story about the love that sustains them through painfully hard times.

For more information or special accommodations to attend this reading, call Jan Weissmiller at Prairie Lights, 319-337-2681. For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events visit the new Arts Iowa website.