Concise Novel for General Audience

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones comes an unforgettable story of hardship and hope, courage and resilience, that follows one young woman's journey through war-torn Italy. In 1941, Emilia Romagna, best friends Lili and Esti, who met at the University of Ferrara, become as close as sisters when Esti's son Theo is born. Despite the war being fought across borders and Mussolini's Racial Laws in Italy, which have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an 'inferior' Jewish race, life somehow goes on until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory.

Esti, the older and fiercely self-assured one, convinces Lili to flee first to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, and then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Underground. When disaster strikes at the convent, a critically wounded Esti asks Lili to take a much bigger step: to go on the run with Theo, to protect him while Esti can't. Terrified to travel on her own, Lili sets out on an epic journey south toward Allied territory, through Nazi-occupied villages and bombed-out cities, doing everything she can to keep Theo safe.

This remarkable tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival is a tender reminder that love for another person, even amidst darkness and uncertainty, can be reason to keep going. One Good Thing is a story that explores the depths of human resilience and the power of the bond between two women who must navigate the unimaginable in order to survive.

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