All but invisible in biblical prose but a story waiting to be told, Mindful, by Barbara Green recounts the little-known journey of exiles returning to a homeland they’ve never seen. A stunning testament to responsible imagination, this is historic fiction at its finest. Beautifully wrought, the tale starts in the year 535 BCE and follows Tizkor, along with her three children, as they journey home from exile in Babylon to make a fresh start. The long road skirting the desert’s edge and the winter weather allow them to reflect on their past hardships, present struggles, and dream about what lies ahead as they seek to reconcile the differences between the lives they have lived and the days which lie before them. Borrowing beloved language from biblical Deuteronomy, each character shapes his or her own experience through the ancient language, at the same time enriching it with the insight gained through hardship.