In The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolan, Hannah/Chaya's uncle Shmuel participates in an escape attempt at the concentration camp. Unfortunately, most the men involved are caught by the guards. The next morning, they are led out in chains and taunted by the commandant. Shmuel remains defiant and is struck by a guard. The commandant unmercifully sentences them to execution before the eyes of their fellow Jewish prisoners.

Shmuel actually smiles as the men are lined up against the wall, and they all begin to pray. Then Shmuel sees his fiancée, Fayge, in the crowd. The two were supposed to be married on the day the Nazis arrived to transport the Jews to the camp. Their wedding never happened.

Shmuel says Fayge's name. It isn't even audible to the crowd over all the noise, but Fayge knows that her name is on Shmuel's lips. She darts forward and falls at Shmuel's feet, looking up at him and smiling. Then she says, "The sky is our canopy. God's canopy. The sky." Shmuel bends and kisses her head, and then the guns fire. Both Shmuel and Fayge fall dead. While they were prevented from being united in marriage during life, their love unites them strongly in the end—so strongly than Fayge would rather die with Shmuel than live without him.