Readers first meet 17-year-old Johannes (Hans) Schmitt on November 9, 1938, as he is walking with his father to the synagogue in Briedheim, Germany. His father is a tailor, and they are bringing clothes to the children in the orphanage attached to the synagogue. Hannah Becker (Hans’ girlfriend) and her father are also at the synagogue. It is a day that will end in Hell: The German Gestapo, riding in their long black Mercedes automobiles, fill the streets. While Hans and his father are at the orphanage, the Nazis attack the kosher butcher shop, breaking the glass windows, stealing all the meat, and beating the butcher to within an inch of his life. Hans and his father escape back to their tailor shop, but soon enough, the Gestapo arrives and kills Hans’ father. It is a scene repeated all around Germany on an occasion now known as “Kristallnacht,” the night of broken glass. Hans and his mother move into the orphanage, and in August 1939, Hans learns that his mother has arranged for him to go to America, under the sponsorship of his father’s old WWI friend—now a professor at the University of Virginia. Professor Cohen is permitted to sponsor only one German, and Hans’ mother insists that he must be the one to escape Germany. Hans boards the MS Batory, the ship that takes him from Gdańsk, Poland, to the port in New Jersey. Moments after the Batory pulls out of the harbor, a German battleship, ostensibly in port to begin peace treaty talks, begins firing rockets at Gdańsk; it is the official beginning of World War II. In November 1943, Hans is inducted into the U.S. Army and posted first to Camp Pickett in Virginia and then to the secret Camp Ritchie in Maryland.

It is at Camp Ritchie that the novel gains steam, moving beyond Hans’ emotional, personal story to encompass the extraordinary tale of “class twenty-two” of the Ritchie Boys, whose unique mission was to elicit real-time battle plans and weaponry details from captured German soldiers. In the narrative’s first, terrifying heavy-action scene, class twenty-two, under fire from the ground, parachutes into France behind enemy lines in preparation for the invasion of Normandy: “The night exploded into day as the Skytrain flying beside us erupted in a fireball of brilliant orange and red. For a single moment, I watched in awestruck silence, too dumbfounded to react as the plane cartwheeled away, not a single parachute emerging from the tumbling wreckage.” Saye’s meticulous prose is graphic, frightening, and packed with military details, including intricate descriptions of German weaponry and organizational structure. From the fields behind Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium to the discovery of the concentration camps, the chilling brutality of war pours off the pages. Hans is a passionate narrator who viscerally communicates his raw emotions throughout the story, particularly his love for Hannah and his mother, his raging hatred for the Nazis, and his fierce determination.

Jasmine Ross, holder of multiple degrees, is happily rootless and eager for her next adventure (“I have training in self-defense, martial arts, tactical skills, and kickboxing. I can handle myself”). Over the years, her globe-trotting has taken her from India to sub-Saharan Africa. Her current gig is in London, where she is filling in for a historian who specializes in Black British history. She has no intention of remaining in London—until the night she rescues a teenage orphan named Amara from a violent attack. Amara’s brilliance and resilience reminds Jasmine of herself at Amara’s age; however, her assignment is coming to an end, and she needs to extend her visa for six months in order to stay until Amara leaves for university. A solution emerges in the form of a marriage of convenience to the dashing Aaron Adler, president of Saola Technology and a close friend of Jasmine’s sister, June. Aaron is under media scrutiny after a scandal involving a competitor named Bridgette Bromley; a short-term marriage would resolve both Aaron’s and Jasmine’s dilemmas. As Aaron and Jasmine settle into their roles as spouses and guardians of Amara, a deep and passionate connection sparks between them. Gordon’s novel is an engaging and briskly paced contemporary romance centered around dynamic and finely drawn protagonists. The chapters alternate between Aaron’s and Jasmine’s perspectives, offering insights into their thoughts and feelings as their marriage of convenience evolves into a genuine partnership (the sex scenes crackle with passion and emotional intensity). The supporting characters are similarly well-developed, particularly Amara, an intelligent young woman who finds stability and a promising future after Jasmine becomes her guardian. That said, the narrative moves so fast that some subplots, particularly Jasmine’s interactions with a predatory man named Bane Roth, are introduced and resolved too quickly.

Curtis’ opening discussion draws on many disciplines as she distinguishes hope from faith, pure positivity, and optimism. Ultimately, she notes, hope is “leaning in and working toward something meaningful to you—even if you’re not sure it’s going to happen.” Curtis considers beliefs about hope held by those in Japan, India, and ancient Greece, as well as observations by Friedrich Nietzsche, Emily Dickinson, and Barack Obama. She cites scientific studies that show the physical, psychological, and practical benefits of hope and examines the development of tools to measure it, including MRI brain imaging. The author doesn’t downplay the adverse forces—personal, local, or global, modest or extreme—that make it difficult to keep this often delicate emotion alive, but she advocates for nurturing hope through nature, art, relationships, and education. She strikes a motivating note at the end by speaking to the power of hope to effect change, small or great, followed by brief profiles of activists working to improve the world and more suggestions for cultivating hope. Suárez’s illustrations—rainbows of luminous semi-abstract, watercolorlike images—appropriately brighten each page, while Curtis’ writing is simple and clear, with information presented in brief, well-organized blocks. In a world where hope sometimes seems to be at a premium, this book offers inspiration and direction for developing a much-needed skill.

A brown-skinned youngster tumbles out of bed, sees flurries of white from the window, and excitedly rushes outdoors. Soon the child has begun to build a snowman, with other kids joining in to help push the large balls of snow. When they need assistance to lift the head into place, a newcomer—a teenager or perhaps an adult—happily lends a hand. Other grown-ups, wearily trudging through the winter weather, pause at the sight. One by one, each contributes an item: a pickle for the nose, flowers for the hair. The crowd also grows: large, diverse, and loving. Smiles break out and laughter erupts as bagel halves are added for ears and other accessories appear. The final touch is a poppy pin from a veteran (a potentially less familiar detail to a U.S. audience that may get overlooked). Modeweg-Hansen’s twitchy lines add movement and joy, while a light blue wash over the sky harkens a slushy, wintry shiver. Luckily, the kindhearted ending envelops readers in warmth, reminding everyone of the happiness that spontaneous community connections can bring. Watching strangers’ lives intertwine in unexpected ways is a delight.

Loux’s tale opens in the Pennsylvania settlement of Penn’s Woods decades after the mysterious disappearance of Jean-Pierre Laux, the eponymous seigneur. A letter arrives at the chateau of Magdalena Laux, wife of a Pennsylvania legislator, warning that a man claiming to be the long-lost father of Magdalena’s own father, Pierre, is on a ship bound for Philadelphia. The life of 20-something Magdalena, a self-proclaimed Cathar, will soon be inexorably changed. Here, the novel jumps back in time to the beginning of the ordeals of Jean-Pierre Laux. He, a Protestant feudal overlord of ancestral land dating back many generations, is walking with his son Pierre, preparing for a two-week trip for an audience with the Catholic King Louis XIV. Jean-Pierre’s beloved wife, Eleanor, is a secret practitioner of the Cathar faith. Although official Catholic persecution of the Cathars has ended centuries earlier, Eleanor worries that the king’s new policy of stationing troops in the home of Protestants will reveal her secret. Her fears are warranted. As Jean-Pierre heads out on his journey, he faces considerable danger. Will he fall prey to a maniacal priest who obsessively hunts out Cathars? Loux prefaces his elegant novel with a useful historical primer for readers not familiar with the history of the Cathars, practitioners of an ascetic and gnostic form of early Christianity. The beautiful, at times lyrical, prose ambles slowly but captivatingly, alternating between Jean-Pierre’s experiences and the lives of his descendants in Pennsylvania. It’s a tale of violence, tragic losses, regret, personal growth, and reconciliation, with vivid portrayals of a curious cast, especially of one compelling secondary character, a waif who takes on increasing importance. With a touch of mysticism plus a couple of deranged villains, the novel is an intriguing mix of personal saga and disturbing religious history.