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THE SUNFLOWER BOYS

With its luminous depiction of all that has been lost and what remains at risk, there is no better book to read right now.

A gorgeously immersive story of childhood cut short by war.

“My brother, Yuri, swimming in the River Desna”: As Wachman’s breathtaking debut opens, Artem Vovchenko draws the first picture in a sketchbook his father has sent him from the United States for his 12th birthday. It will be followed by other images of a sweet childhood in the small town of Chernihiv, Ukraine—going to school for the first time, riding bikes and taking dares, watching horror movies at a sleepover, visiting their grandfather’s farm in the countryside, where the boys try to earn money for a Nintendo Switch by collecting sunflower seeds. For a while, Artem’s most troubling problem is wondering whether his best friend, Viktor, shares his more-than-friendly feelings—sometimes, it seems he might! But on Feb. 24, 2022, the boys’ world is shattered by the arrival of Russian soldiers, and before long Artem and Yuri are on their own, fighting to survive in the devastated hellscape that used to be their home. About as amazing and impressive as you can imagine, this 25-year-old debut author from Massachusetts has evoked the details of life in Ukraine with utterly convincing clarity, and his depiction of the specific brutality of war will bring you to tears. The key to this achievement is the crystal-clear voice of Artem, a big brother lingering at the far edge of childhood, worshipping his mama and grandpa, bitterly missing his father, learning his country’s history, riding the roller coaster of his crush—then pitched abruptly into a jagged world of violence, grief, shame, responsibility, and hate. He is a narrator to fall in love with, evoking connections to the work of Anthony Marra, Justin Torres, and J.D. Salinger. The structure of the book, unfolding via 100 scenes from Artem’s sketchbook, underlines the essential role of art and storytelling as survival skills for life’s most ordinary and extraordinary challenges. As an epigraph suggests, “War cannot be understood; it must be felt.” Wachman does the essential work of making us feel.

With its luminous depiction of all that has been lost and what remains at risk, there is no better book to read right now.

Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025

ISBN: 9780063418226

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025

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REGRETTING YOU

The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.

When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.

Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.

The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.

Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019

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THE NIGHTINGALE

Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.

Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.

In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring passeurs: people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.

Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.

Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3

Page Count: 448

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014

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