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A Thread of Grace is one of the saddest and most hopeful books I have read in a long time. It’s a well-researched historical novel set in Italy during World War II. Mary Doria Russell chronicles the efforts of northern Italy’s village priests and peasants to hide Jews from the Nazis.

The risks taken and sacrifices made by ordinary people make for sobering and sometimes harrowing reading. The inhumanity and arrogance of the oppressors is horrifying, yet the efforts of those protecting the Jews weaves a thread of grace around the cruelty. Where did those ordinary people find strength to do good deeds in the face of such evil? Only by clinging to the thread of grace, the actions of the priest and peasants seemed to say, by emulating the sacrifice and hope of their Savior who came to earth in the form of an ordinary man.

Though their efforts often met with failure, Italians successfully hid more Jews during the war than any other nation. A Thread of Grace is a testament to the Italian citizenry in the 1930s and 40s. It contrasts sharply with a recent NPR story that detailed how the nation resents it’s present-day immigrants. The news report raised so many questions in my mind. What has happened in the last sixty years to so completely change Italy’s attitude? What has happened to grace? Can it be restored? Is our country, once a haven for immigrants and the oppressed, following the same path? If so, what can we do to stop it?

I don’t have answers after reading this book, only a greater ability to find the thread of grace that manifests itself through ordinary people during mankind’s most shameful times. Maybe this book can help you find a thread of grace, too.