It would be wonderful to read stories like these regularly in a newspaper column: people with particular lives who have managed to develop their talents even in difficult circumstances.
The book's title explains its purpose well. In an era when drama tends to dominate the headlines and troubling news stories often leave us thinking the world is heading in the wrong direction, the people Bertoglio writes about offer a different path forward.
Hope doesn't make news. The author, trained as a musicologist, gathers these stories with simplicity and directness—occasionally with a somewhat repetitive touch—from very different people she has encountered. She suggests that all of us meet people with similar stories, and that it matters to learn from these encounters.
C.T., 2011