QUIET VALOR MOMENTS

Nouvel retells true incidents of compassion and thoughtfulness in this inspirational collection.

Often, it’s small acts of kindness—or quiet valor, as the author terms them—that reaffirm our faith in our fellow humans. “Quiet valor…is a practice that appears wherever attention meets responsibility,” writes Nouvel. “It does not announce itself. It does not demand belief. It does not promise resolution. It simply responds.” One sees such quiet valor in the story of the airport security guard in India who returns an anonymous white envelope filled with cash to its flustered owner, who needs the money to pay for his brother’s medical procedure overseas. Or in the UPS driver who, noticing that one of his usual customers isn’t there to greet him, calls 911, saving a woman who’s demobilized inside her house. Or in the cellist who plays in the ruins of a bombed structure in Ukraine in an attempt to “bring live music back into public spaces disrupted by war.” Nouvel collects 51 such stories in this compendium, categorizing them by themes of kindness, conscience, courage, grace, and faith. Culled from news organizations around the world and retold as short fables, these pieces illustrate the ways in which small, selfless decisions often have immense consequences for others. One entry, for example, tells of how, during a beach clean-up in Taiwan, a group of student volunteers discover a waterproof camera lost by a pair of Japanese divers 13 years before. The memory card is intact, and the students manage to return it to the owner, who’s treated to the images of her final dive with her father before his death. Another story describes how, in Dallas during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, local organizers set up community refrigerators around the city bearing handwritten signs: “Take what you need. Leave what you can.” Unlocked and unguarded, the fridges are never looted or stolen as people bring and take food throughout the day and night.

Nouvel, “with substantial drafting and editorial assistance from ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) writing tool used under his direction,” recounts these incidents in even, understated prose that emphasizes the mundanity of these actions. He usually ends the stories by noting how the world continues on its business, evincing little awareness of what’s transpired, as in this anecdote about a woman who brings her therapy dog to help ease the stress of wildfire responders: “Wildfire response continues through the night. The staging area quiets between rotations. Equipment remains stacked in ordered rows. The smell of smoke persists. The dog rests in the vehicle as Carman prepares for the next authorized visit. Fire activity continues through the night.” Each chapter ends with a link to the original news item the short essay is based on. They also include black-and-white illustrations that, while created by AI, have the aesthetic of charcoal drawings. The book is reminiscent of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and will satisfy readers who thirst for real-world proof of goodness and connection among strangers.

An earnest, straightforward compilation of retellings of human-interest stories.