The World That We Knew

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman is a beautiful tale of escape during World War II.

In Berlin in 1941, three women must act to survive.

Hanni Kohn know she must send her daughter Lea away. She herself cannot go because of her ailing mother. But Lea must be given a chance to survive what is obviously coming at the Jews of Germany.

When Hanni goes to the rabbi to beg him to make a golem to protect Lea, she is turned away. But not before his daughter - who knows the way as well as the rabbi - hears her. Ettie agrees to do it, for enough money for her and her younger sister to get out of Germany.

This is a beautiful story of hope and strong women. Hoffman is a masterful storyteller.

Hoffman, Alice. (2019). The World That We Knew. New York: Simon & Schuster.

To Be Taught if Fortunate (Wayfarers Prequel)

To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers is a prequel novella to her Wayfarers science fiction series.

Years and years before the current Wayfarers series takes place, this novella is written by one of the early explorers of far space from Earth. It is a journal sent back to Earth from her both about their journey and what she hope has been happening on Earth in the 50 years she slept in transit.

Ariadne O'Neill and her three crewmates are on an expedition to survey four possibly habitable worlds. Her journal chronicles both the wonder and the danger of their mission as well as hope that someone on Earth is listening.

Chambers has written a beautiful novella of early space flight and exploration in her universe. It is all of the things one would think an explorer who will likely never see Earth again would want us to learn from her.

Chambers, Becky. (2019). To Be Taught if Fortunate. New York: Harper Voyager.