In 1943, thirteen-year-old Allie “Bert” Tucker is sent by her poor father on a bus trip across North Carolina to stay with her pregnant Aunt Violet and help with her forthcoming baby. However, through a series of circumstances, Bert ends up living with thirteen-year-old Lucy “Lu” Brown and her large family, instead. Not only do Lu and Bert become best friends, but they also become sisters. Because Bert is illiterate, Lu and her mother teach Bert how to read, write, and do arithmetic.
The Brown family lives on a tobacco farm in Riverton, NC and also has a thriving beekeeping and honey business. In exchange for cane sugar and cash, the Browns agree to provide the US government with beeswax and honey from their hives. Not only do family members help with working the hives, but neighbors and close friends chip in, as well.
A Nazi POW camp is built on the outskirts of Riverton, and many of the townspeople are distrustful of the prisoners. One Riverton resident, Terrell Stuckey, is particularly disturbed and sits outside the camp whittling all day. Three of the prisoners are working on the Brown’s farm as part of their rehabilitation. When a double murder takes place at the camp, everyone thinks that Terrell did it, but he can’t be located.
Terrell Stuckey is the third man to go missing in Riverton. Lu and Bert, who are avid Nancy Drew fans, decide to try to find out what has happened to the men. They engage the help of Trula Freed, an eccentric neighbor, and Lu’s rich Aunt Fanniebelle and her Ouija board, which the girls name “Weegee”. However, the mysteries remain unsolved until a close friend’s death, when Lu, Bert, and Helen, one of Lu’s older sisters, make a surprising discovery.
All the Little Hopes is a delightful read, filled with nostalgia, small town life, and love of family and friends. The book contains short chapters and is told in the alternating voices of Lu and Bert. The novel sails along while World War II is going on in the background, quietly affecting the town and the Brown family.
The characters, even the minor ones, are extremely well-thought out. I love the whole Brown family, but especially the parents, Minnie and David. They are caring parents and calming forces in their children’s lives. Several of the characters very quirky, which adds to the charm of the novel. Trula Freed, the town’s mystic, reads tarot cards, provides medicine for a variety of ailments, and seems to be clairvoyant. Lu’s Aunt Fanniebelle, who is quite wealthy and lives in a mansion, gets her words mixed up, which makes her stories hilarious. I also love that Lu and her whole family are bibliophiles, and they turn Bert into one, too.
Readers will be able to tell that Ms. Weiss has done her research, as she inserts historical anecdotes into the story. The POW camp in the book is based on a similar one she was able to locate in Williamston, NC. Other factual truths in the novel are the World War II beeswax contracts, the disappearance of band leader Glen Miller, the 1918 Spanish Flu, and folklore wolpertingers from Bavaria. She has also provided recipes in the back of the book matching those in the novel.
There is a “Conversation with the Author” in the back of the book, where the author answers questions about her life growing up, beekeeping, Nancy Drew, the importance of reading, and the development of her characters. She has also provided a “Reading Group Guide” containing questions and author’s notes explaining how the book came about.
All the Little Hopes is a charming, heartfelt, and touching read. While it is written for young adults, it would be enjoyed by adults, as well. Hand this book to readers who enjoy stories about family and friendship and World War II. I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Sourcebooks for allowing me to read and review this book!
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