"A maid, a journalist, an artist, and a puppeteer" sounds like the beginning of a joke, but they actually describe the four main characters in Alex George's new novel A Paris Hour. Four fictional characters living in the glittery, avant garde Paris surrounded by actual socialites and artists: Josephine Baker, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and Marcel Proust. Taking place in one day, George weaves the lives of the ordinary people to an exciting and breathtaking ending. Is a secret revealed? Is a debt paid? Read, A Paris Hour. NOTE: Short chapters help the reader remember who is who.

After reading American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins you will find yourself wondering just how far would you go to save your loved ones? Would you evacuate them from all they love? Would you jump trains with them? Cross the desert with questionable strangers for them? Bullets flew one day and Lydia's life dramatically changed. Immediately all she knew was one thing, el norte, she must go el norte to the United States or she and her son Luca would die. Easily one of the best books I've read in years.