Nina by Michael C. Kelly

 This must be the first story to come out of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. When a Russian soldier is captured, his jailer contacts his mother and tells her that the only way they will release her son is if she makes her way to the Ukraine and picks him up. Having lost her husband to the fighting in Syria, Nina drops everything and begins a desperate trip through war-torn Ukraine to save her son.

The story is a testament to the love of a mother for her child, while also emphasizing that neither side in the conflict wanted anything to do with the fighting. They are all being forced into the insanity of war by a fanatical dictator bent on world domination. The story is exciting, harrowing, and humorous at times as it shows how similar the two fighting peoples are to each other. There can be no winners in this conflict.

This is a story to be cherished.