Best Books of 2020

1. Hearts, Strings, and other Breakable Things by Jacqueline Firkins: This modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1814 novel Mansfield Park is one of the best professionally published fanfictions I’ve read in a long time.
2. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary Trump: You Know Who’s only niece, Mary Trump tells her uncle’s story as only a close family member can.
3. Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now, by Evan Osnos: This biography tells the President-elect’s story from a human perspective, giving the reader an insight that the news headlines cannot.
4. Bronte’s Mistress, by Finola Austin: Austin delves into the myth of the affair between Branwell Bronte and Lydia Robinson, his older and married employer. Giving voice to Branwell, his youngest sister Anne and Mrs. Robinson specifically, she introduces the reader to the woman behind the rumor.
5. Rage, by Bob Woodward: Legendary journalist Bob Woodward takes the reader into the current Presidential administration and the chaos created by you know who.
6. The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron: Cameron’s book follows the story of Stefania Podgorska, a Polish-Catholic teenage girl who saved thirteen Jews during World War II.
7. Jagged Little Pill: The reader is taken into the world of the hit musical, Jagged Little Pill: The Musical.
8. Pretending: A Novel, by Holly Bourne: April believes that she is damaged goods, romantically speaking. When she creates an alter ego named Gretel, the results are surprising.
9. A Star is Bored: A Novel, by Byron Lane: Lane, a former assistant to the late actress and writer Carrie Fisher, spins his time working for her into a hilarious and entertaining novel.
10. Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda, by Jean Guerrero: This insightful and frankly scary book tells the story of Presidential aide Stephen Miller.

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The Light in Hidden Places Book Review

Hate can be powerful. But, so is love.

The Light in Hidden Places, by Sharon Cameron was published earlier this year. The novel tells the story of Stefania Podgórska, a Polish-Catholic teenager who saved the lives of thirteen Jews during World War II.

In 1943, Stefania is working for the Diamants, a Jewish family who owns a grocery store in Przemyśl, a small town in Poland. Over the previous four years, she has become like family to her employers. That relationship includes a secret engagement to one of their sons.

Then the Germans invade and everything changes. The Diamants are forced into the ghetto with thousands of other Jewish residents from the area. Now Stefania is on her own with the responsibility of taking care of her younger sister. A knock on the door reveals that Max, one of the Diamant’s sons is alive. He is the first of thirteen Jews that the the sisters will hide.

As the war progresses, the danger increases. Anyone found hiding Jews will be executed. The danger grows exponentially when Stefania is forced to house German soldiers. Up to this point, she has been forced to make decisions that are painful and difficult. The final decision will be the most painful and difficult to make.

I loved this book. It was well written, gripping, and a wonderful reminder that love can still exist when hate takes over. On a personal note, I was touched by the book because it hit close to home. Przemyśl is close to Dobromil, the shtetl that my mother’s maternal line called home for generations.

I absolutely recommend it.