Honor

by Susan McClelland, Nataliia Mariichyn

Told from dual perspectives, this remarkable true story for YA readers recounts the tale of two individuals—a Ukrainian teen in the early 2010s and a Jewish boy in hiding during WWII—whose lives are entwined through a box of letters.

Nataliia, a teenager in Ukraine, is at home when she makes a puzzling a box of letters written from a Jewish boy, Eliezer, about his experience during the Holocaust. At first, Nataliia doesn't understand why her family possesses Eliezer's letters. But as she reads through them, she is able to piece together a fascinating connection—her ancestors were the ones who sheltered Eliezer during the war. Decades later, Nataliia and Eliezer’s family find each other in the same orbit again—as the world faces conflicts anew.

This is the incredible true story of two families brought together through war and a girl’s discovery of her family’s past—and what it means for the future.

240 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 9, 2026

Reviews

[Carlyn Morenus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful story. ARC is somewhat hampered by the need for a lot of editing, particularly for sentence structure and punctuation problems. Hopefully that will be corrected before the final publication, because it's a story that deserves to be heard.

Based on true events, deals with Ukrainian WWII history, particularly the persecution of Jews, and the people who risked their lives to help. Nicely framed with a 2013 near-present story line, teen Nataliia is discovering this history through letters her grandmother kept.