The Brunswick

Murray draws inspiration from the kindertransports of the 1930s for her quietly impactful debut historical. In April 1939, war clouds hang over Europe, but in the small town of Norcross, Ga., Cora Cain is focused on managing her depressed father’s struggling general store, formerly a grand hotel called the Brunswick. Enter Thomas Watkins, an out-of-towner whom Cora hires to help revitalize the store, which occupies part of the building’s first floor. Then family friends George and Evelyn Cohen approach Cora with a proposal to house Austrian refugee children in the hotel’s rooms. The faithful Cora agrees despite her father’s misgivings, and she and Thomas prepare for the children’s arrival. A spark ignites between the pair, but Thomas soon reveals a secret that puts Cora’s budding feelings—and the Cohens’ plan—at risk. A second plotline unfolds in Vienna, where 10-year-old Charlotte, who’s spent months sheltering from the Nazi regime in her aunt’s apartment, grapples with the prospect of leaving behind everyone she has ever loved—including her mother—in search of safety overseas. Murray captures the rising anxiety of impending war as her characters struggle to come to grips with what it means to hold onto hope in times of strife. Readers will find it hard to look away. (May)