Welcome Readers!
New year means new reading challenge! I’m so excited to tell you that the theme for the 2026 Online Reading Challenge is … KNOW YOUR HISTORY! Each month we will be reading about a different observance month (think Black History Month, for example) and highlighting a main title about that month. I will pick a main title for us to read together if you would like, but feel free to read anything about that observance month! I can’t wait to start reading with you all.
For January, we will be reading books that commemorate the victims and honor the survivors of the Holocaust as January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Our main title for January is Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:
To survive the Holocaust, a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer’s wife in this unforgettable novel from USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Robson—a story of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice, inspired by true events, that vividly evokes the most perilous days of World War II.
It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met.
Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love.
But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge.
As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart . . . – William Morrow Paperbacks
Looking for some other books that commemorate the victims and honor the survivors of the Holocaust? Try any of the following.
- The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
- The Curator’s Daughter by Melanie Dobson
- Death March Escape by Jack Hersch
- The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
- The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
- One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter
- Tehran Children by Mikhal Dekel
- Three Sisters by Heather Morris
- The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff
As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!