Staff picks

Lizzy & Jane by Katherine Reay (Thomas Nelson, 2014) is a novel about a burned-out chef named Elizabeth. Seeking rest to rekindle her culinary passion, she returns home, only to discover her estranged sister Jane is battling cancer. While supporting her sister, Elizabeth must grapple with baggage from her past to embrace a new vision for her future. —Editorial Assistant Kristin Chapman

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede (ReganBooks, 2002) is the heartwarming account of how a tiny town on Newfoundland Island responded to the tragedy of 9/11. When air traffic controllers diverted 38 American-bound jetliners to Gander International Airport, the town’s population rallied with a display of hospitality to strangers that’s worth aspiring to imitate. —National Editor Jamie Dean

We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill (Ballantine Books, 2009) offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Britain’s famous queen and her husband. While focused on the 21 years of their marriage, the book also gives the context to the deep divisions among the royal family prior to Victoria’s ascension to the throne, helps connect the dots to her and Albert’s strict moral code, and traces the mixing of the royal bloodlines throughout Europe during the 19th century. —Editorial Assistant Amy Derrick

Take Heart: Christian Courage in the Age of Unbelief by Matt Chandler and David Roark (The Good Book Company, 2018) is an antidote for those who feel discouraged or fearful about our current cultural climate. This quick, readable call to action will leave you encouraged and hopeful about what God is doing in 21st-century America—and your role in it. —WORLD Radio Managing Editor J.C. Derrick

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press, 2017) is a quiet novel centering on two families: One seems picture-perfect with its big house and beautiful children in an affluent neighborhood. The other, a starving artist and her independent teenage daughter, is less so. As their lives intertwine, the story illustrates how mother-daughter bonds transcend race, socioeconomic status, and circumstance. Caution: some sexual references and a plot point involving a realistically depicted abortion. —East Asia Bureau Reporter Angela Lu Fulton

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin (St. Martin’s Press, 2018) tells of Hinton’s nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row after his conviction in the murder of two fast-food managers, despite dubious evidence linking him to the crimes. A judge set Hinton free in 2015, but his account shows how prejudice and poverty can contribute to injustice. Caution: some obscenities. —Managing Editor Daniel James Devine

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford (Scribner, 2017) is set in 1746 New York, pop. 7,000. When a young, handsome man hops off a boat from London with a promissory note for 1,000 pounds—a fortune in those days—locals whisper and conspire: Who’s he? A spy? Royalty? Con man? What results is a well-researched, comical, lyrical, action-packed story of wit-sparring lovers, local politics, Shakespeare, and mysteries. —Reporter Sophia Lee

We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie by Noah Isenberg (W.W. Norton & Company, 2017) was written for fans of the film—and who isn’t one? Isenberg details the movie’s backstory, sorts out rumors from facts (Ronald Reagan was never really considered for the lead), tells the intriguing story of how European refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in Hollywood played European refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in North Africa, and explains why the movie remains relevant today, more than 75 years later. Caution: some foul language and sexual references. —WORLD Digital Executive Editor Mickey McLean

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine Books, 2017) is an immersive story loosely based on a historic adoption scandal in Tennessee. The detailed narrative transitions smoothly between the past and the present as Rill Foss relives her dark time in an orphanage and Avery Stafford—a politician’s daughter-in-training—explores her family’s link to an illicit adoption in a quest for truth. Caution: references to abuse. —WORLD Digital Reporter Onize Ohikere