SOLVED. YA Historical Fiction novel. Character called Isa or Issa (for Isabel/ Isabella). Her Mom has all her teeth pulled and while recovering. House on fire. Read in 1980s. Spoilers.

[Amy]

I borrowed this paperback book in the 80s from my local library. There may have been a picture of a row of houses on the cover, but I'm not sure. The main character's name was Isabel or Isabella but her family called her "Isa" or Issa"

This book was in a "featured" section of the library. I have searched by character name, plot and asked librarians to no avail. I'd be so grateful for any suggestions on where to find this book.

[Amy]

The end of this book was so haunting and why I never have forgotten this story. As the house burns and the main character knows her Mom is trapped in the house, she stands watching it burn imagining her Mom whispering her name: Issa, Issa, Issa. (Or maybe spelled Isa?)

I would love to find this book again. Thank you for anyone who can point me in any direction.

[Kris]

Amy, what's the genre - e.g., realistic fiction for teens, coming of age, thriller, mystery, etc.?

Story's time period and location/ country?

[Juels]

This is a wild guess... There is a character Isa and someone has dreams about people without teeth. There is also a post office fire. Don't know if any of this is close enough. Bitter Grounds by Sandra Benítez?

Maybe you can use the Google Books preview to rule it out: https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

[Becca]

It was first published in 1992, but The Kingdom of Brooklyn by Merrill Joan Gerber look like it has all these details.
Edit: here's the Google Books preview, in case it helps: https://www.google.co.uk/books/editio...

[Amy]

Becca wrote: "It was first published in 1992, but The Kingdom of Brooklyn by Merrill Joan Gerber look like it has all these details.
Edit: here's the Google Books preview, in case it helps: https:/..."

THIS IS IT! I cannot believe it. I had not checked here in a bit and came to see the answers. I went to Amazon and immediately ordered the Kindle version because I couldn't wait to see if this was the book I had been wanting to remember and reread for so long!

THANK YOU so much. I'm so happy I get to revisit this story to see why it stuck with me for so long. Would you mind telling me how you discovered this? I would love to know what I was doing wrong in my searches. I'd love to mail you cookies or something for helping me out with this - seriously, thank you so, so much!

[Becca]

I'm so glad I could help! I can't remember exactly how I found it but I was searching Google Books and / or archive.org for keywords and phrases e.g. 'Issa' 'fire' 'all her teeth', and eventually hit the right combination of those.