All the Little Hopes
A Novel
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4.5 • 150 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
"Will break your heart, but Leah Weiss's beautiful writing will sew it back together again" —Wiley Cash, New York Times bestselling author
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 been the same since the boys shipped off to war and worry took their place. Thirteen-year-old Lucy Brown is precocious and itching for adventure. Then Allie Bert Tucker wanders into town, an outcast with a puzzling past, and Lucy figures the two of them can solve any curious crime they find—just like her hero, Nancy Drew.
Their chance comes when a man goes missing, a woman stops speaking, and an eccentric gives the girls a mystery to solve that takes them beyond the ordinary. Their quiet town, seasoned with honeybees and sweet tea, becomes home to a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp. More men go missing. And together, the girls embark on a journey to discover if we ever really know who the enemy is.
Lush with Southern atmosphere, All The Little Hopes is the story of two girls growing up as war creeps closer, blurring the difference between what's right, what's wrong, and what we know to be true.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Weiss (If the Creek Don't Rise) delivers an intriguing coming of age story of two 13-year-old girls whose summer idyll is complicated by mysterious events. Lucy Brown lives on a tobacco farm in Riverton, N.C., in 1943 with her six siblings. She forms a quick friendship with Bert Tucker, who comes to Riverton to stay with her pregnant aunt Violet, whose husband Larry has disappeared, after Bert's mother dies. Lucy's mother then brings Bert into the Browns' home when Violet is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Lucy's understanding of WWII is based on her knowledge of her older soldier brother, Everett, and of her father's deal with the U.S. government to provide beeswax. But after Riverton becomes home to a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, Lucy learns firsthand of the war's divisiveness, as rumors and distrust run rampant through the community. Lucy, an avid Nancy Drew reader, then bands with Bert in an effort solve the mystery of Larry's disappearance, and of a singer who went missing after performing at a town dance. Weiss expertly highlights how Lucy and Bert's innocence is altered by their experiences, with spot-on depictions of the rural Southern community. This is magnetic from the start.
Customer Reviews
Special friendship
I found this a delightful book about 2 very different young girls forming a friendship that made them both the better. Bert was welcomed into Lu’s family and, while accepted as she was, she was given opportunities to learn to work, read, forgive and find redemption. The setting is rural and on a tobacco farm where they raise bees so “work” is a part of their days but they also love to solve mysteries like Nancy Drew! It was easy to read and most enjoyable
Beautiful story
I loved watching the girls mature and reading about the wisdom shared with them. Life in North Carolina during WW2 is interesting to learn about.