By Amanda McCrina
Carolrhoda Lab / Lerner, 2026
180 pages
979-8-7656-7081-1
Age 14 and older
This slim, taut novel set in occupied Galicia during the thick of World War I wastes no words and packs a powerful punch. The only remaining member of her immediate family, 18-year-old Polish countess Renia lives alone in her family’s partially destroyed mansion and treats wounded soldiers at a nearby hospital. Her recent actions—harboring two escaped Russian POWs—have led to her arrest; now Renia is giving her testimony of events at her military tribunal. Renia found the soldiers, Adya and Vitya, in her home just before the onset of a blizzard; both were starving, and Vitya’s gangrenous foot needed immediate amputation, though he died despite the gruesome operation. Stuck in the house together, Renia and Adya—both, as it turned out, Polish—shared pieces of their traumatic war experiences with one another. After their stove was extinguished, putting them at risk of hypothermia, the two were discovered lying together in what appeared to be a compromising position. Clear-eyed Renia tells her story with honesty—for the most part. Wartime demands that this courageous, complex heroine play multiple roles in a layered story told with outstanding writing, pacing, and framing. ©2026 Cooperative Children’s Book Center