Three young siblings fervently cling to the hope of being reunited as they navigate the unforgiving reality of St. Petersburg in the 1990s in Brown’s novel.

In early 1990s, the sudden unraveling of the Soviet Union has left St. Petersburg in tatters. The wealthy continue to profit while the poor continue their descent into starvation, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Against a backdrop of death, economic upheaval, and rising crime, the novel’s protagonists emerge: 12-year-old Fedya, 9-year-old Elena, and 4-year-old Irina are orphaned siblings scrambling to survive. Fedya runs with a gang of pickpockets and thieves to keep his sisters alive; Elena watches over Irina. Soon after the fiercely resilient children are introduced to the reader, they are ripped apart from one another; Fedya is taken in by the mafia, Elena is sent to an orphanage, and Irina is quickly adopted and sent to America. Though thousands of miles away from one another and fighting for their lives in more ways than one, Fedya, Elena, and Irina swear to themselves and each other that they will be united once more, hopefully in a kinder, more just world than the one they know now. This realistic drama is cruel, unforgiving, and indelicate; Brown writes uncomplicated prose that expertly exemplifies the cold brutality of life for those living in St. Petersburg during the era depicted here. The protagonists are treated with an intriguing blend of insight and superficiality as the author directs the reader to focus not on the unique nature of each character but on the cutthroat means of survival that define the children’s lives (“You’re almost ten! How long have we been on the street, and still you don’t know the rules? Maybe I should drop you both off at the police station and be done with you”). Avid readers of historical fiction will appreciate Brown’s unflinching exploration of Russia in turmoil and her sympathy for those experiencing it.

A brutal and thorough exploration of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, seen through the eyes of three young children.

In Brown’s debut novel, a seemingly miraculous gift upends an ordinary woman’s life.

Jane Freedle is absent-mindedly singing the hymn “Oh Christ the Healer” at church. “What would it be like to be a healer?” Jane wonders, but her pondering isn’t idle. She had prayed over a cat hit by a car, and the cat had instantly recovered; she had prayed over an injured fellow church member, and they had instantly recovered. Suddenly, Jane finds herself wondering what is happening to her normal life as a friendly, retired schoolteacher and widow living in Lafayette, Maryland. But these seeming miracles keep piling up. Her prayers heal a dying old woman at the nursing home where Jane volunteers, and when she mistakenly tells her pastor about it, he tells Jane’s daughter, Maddie, that Jane might be going a little crazy after living alone for years after the death of her husband, Richard. But when Maddie’s little daughter has her own accident, Jane heals her before the paramedics even arrive, although nobody seems to believe it. “Her family thought she was bananas,” Jane reflects, “her pastor thought she was senile, and her friends thought she was delusional.” To complicate matters, a washed-up reporter named Wade Twomey has been assigned to investigate seeming miracles happening in this small town, and he quickly considers Jane the heart of the story. That story only grows more complicated for Jane and everybody else, and Brown writes it all with an invigorating pace and an enjoyably understated humor that breaks through everywhere. Jane is portrayed as an endearingly fallible and unlikely miracle worker, a retiree who slips into profanity too easily and keeps up a running argument with her dead husband. It’s Jane’s complete lack of predictable sanctimony that gives the novel its consistent charm.

A wise, winning story of a modern-day miracle worker.