Charlotte McConaghy is a writer of rare atmospheric power, able to render landscape and grief as a single continuous thing, so that you cannot quite say where the weather ends and the mourning begins.

Hints of Hope is a series of 6 essays that cohere loosely as a whole but also have a standalone feel.  Each asks a version of the same question: can we live honestly in a way that embraces both the sorrow and the joy of everyday life? This quest for honesty at the individual level or truth at the collective level frames each essay. The space between what we desire and where we eventually find ourselves, what we want our works and lives to be and what they become, what we hope for our society and the society that remains after all our efforts is experienced emotively, morally, ethically, and spiritually.

Last week in a seminar, a student asked what might the world be like if we were all just 10% kinder, more humble, more generous, more grateful?  What if we were all 10% better humans? The question was a response to the unattainability of many moral exemplars. It was also a question about change at scale. If we aspire to a more just and equitable world where the human dignity of all is affirmed, are we better off with several more Mother Theresas or millions more who commit to be 10% better? While coming a bit close to effective altruism for my liking, I found the notion more than a bit compelling.

"She wasn't used to lying to anyone but herself."

I have a holiday ritual where I read the Booker Short List between Christmas and New Year’s. Indeed, it is a family tradition. So come January, I often focus on well-reviewed new books that might be a bit lighter but which still have strong, captivating narratives. I don’t want to have to work too hard. I want to think, but not have to puzzle through. Denise Mina’s The Good Liar is a great January book.

At the center of What We Owe are critical questions about responsibility: responsibility to country, to justice, to family, and to oneself. Bonde resolutely eschews easy answers. Her prose is lyrical in its crispness. But the narrative is also stark in a heartbreaking way that will gnaw at you for a long while.