Waiting on Wednesday

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Author: Georgia Hunter 

Copyright: March 4, 2025

From the New York Times–bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones, an unforgettable story of hardship and hope, courage and resilience, that follows one young woman’s journey through war-torn Italy 

1940, Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have been best friends since meeting at the University of Ferrara; when Esti’s son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. There is a war being fought across borders, and in Italy, Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an ‘inferior’ Jewish race, but life somehow goes on—until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory

Esti, older and fiercely self-assured, convinces Lili to flee first to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, 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. 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.

A remarkable tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival, One Good Thing is a tender reminder that love for another person, even amidst darkness and uncertainty, can be reason to keep going (goodreads).

This book just recently come out by one of my favorite authors, Georgia Hunter, who also wrote We Were the Lucky Ones (another bittersweet book about survival, love, and hope during one of the darkest times in history) which made this book an automatic must-read for me. Historical fiction is one of my favorite book genres because it allows us to explore the past and empathize with those who suffered real life tragedies like these. It's different from academic textbooks because they go beyond statistical and factual explanations of events. I hope I get the opportunity to read this book soon!