All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss

I am highly recommending the latest work of historical fiction by Leah Weiss (If the Creek Don't Rise) titled ALL THE LITTLE HOPES. Set in 1940s North Carolina, this centers on two thirteen-year-old girls, their families, and the meaning of community, especially in the rural South at that time. Following the death of her mother and baby brother, Allie Bert (she prefers Bert) Tucker is sent to stay with a pregnant aunt in the eastern part of the state. Lucy Brown, a keen Nancy Drew fan and bibliophile, befriends her and the two girls seek to solve a disappearing persons mystery. Throughout the novel, Weiss has cleverly and often subtly interwoven historical fact across a range of subjects: German POWs; the role of women; race relations; Bavarian Folklore; tobacco farming; and raising bees. Weiss also refers to literature like Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit whose theme of becoming is mirrored in the intellectual, physical and emotional growth of Bert and Lucy. Chosen for the July LibraryReads list, this is a gentle story without too many surprises; its strength is being an uplifting tale of potential and resilience: "Mama says hope is a road in life, and it's easier to travel than despair. Sometimes a new perspective is all you need to make it through." Publishers Weekly called ALL THE LITTLE HOPES “magnetic from the start.” A Conversation with the Author and Reading Group Guide are included.