From the acclaimed author of If the Creek Don’t Rise comes a Southern story of friendship forged by books and bees, when the timeless troubles of growing up meet the murky shadows of World War II.

Deep in the tobacco land of North Carolina, nothing’s the same since the boys shipped off to war and worry took their place. Thirteen-year-old Lucy Brown is curious and clever, but she can’t make sense of it all. Then Allie Bert Tucker comes to town, an outcast with a complicated past, and Lucy believes that together they can solve crimes. Just like her hero, Nancy Drew.

That chance comes when a man goes missing, a woman stops speaking, and an eccentric gives the girls a mystery that takes them beyond the ordinary. Their quiet town, seasoned with honeybees and sweet tea, becomes home to a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp—and more men go missing. The pair set out to answer the big question: do we ever really know who the enemy is?

Lush with Southern atmosphere, All The Little Hopes, is the story of two girls growing up while war creeps closer, blurring the difference between what’s right, what’s wrong, and what we know to be true.

Review:

Poignant, optimistic, and intriguing!

All the Little Hopes is a mysterious, heartwarming tale that sweeps you away to North Carolina in the early 1940s when war is raging overseas, “real bad men” seem to be disappearing in the small town of Riverton, and two thirteen-year-old girls from different backgrounds, Lucy Brown, an inquisitive young girl who yearns to be an amateur detective just like her favourite literary character, Nancy Drew, and Allie Bert Tucker, a young, poor girl with no formal education who is sent to live with her aunt after her mother dies during childbirth become the best of friends.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are quirky, curious, and vulnerable. And the plot is a heartfelt, coming-of-age tale about life, love, loneliness, heartbreak, war, loss, grief, guilt, hope, family, and friendship.

Overall, All the Little Hopes is a beautifully written, informative, absorbing tale with intriguing characters that I devoured from start to finish. It’s the first book I’ve had the chance to read by Weiss, but it definitely won’t be my last, and it is undoubtedly the perfect choice for anyone who loves the historical fiction genre.

This book is available now.

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