Quiet Valor (Everyday Americans):

Acts of Character That Change a Life, a Street, a Community

by

Larry Nouvel

Inspirational stories of everyday people who made a difference.

Quiet Valor (Everyday Americans): Acts of Character That Change a Life, a Street, a Community is the third collection of similarly themed short stories by author Larry Nouvel, and each story is a gem of inspiration and personal fortitude. The recountings are compelling reading and immediately evoked some pretty strong emotions in me as I went from one to another. 

In this particular volume, Nouvel has collected the stories of a wide variety of regular people: people who, unless you were close to or involved in the specific event or the individual’s life (some of their stories span decades of service), you’ve probably never heard of. They are tales of extended kindness, dedication, and perseverance, as well as moments of courageous actions. The settings and circumstances of the stories are as diverse as their participants and include disaster and emergency response; health and caregiving; education and mentorship; civic duty; inclusion; advocacy and justice; and the everyday times and places where someone just continued to quietly show up and be present. 

The author’s writing style is engaging and easy to read, almost like a face-to-face conversation with a friend or a cozy storytelling experience. In addition to the tales themselves, Nouvel provides the titles of the sources he found during his research on his subjects, many of which are online and include accessible links for the reader to click and peruse for themselves. In describing the collection, I think the author said it best when he wrote, “It is the kind of book you might open on a quiet evening when you need to remember what goodness looks like.” 

I recommend QUIET VALOR to everyone, fiction and nonfiction readers alike, young and old. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Literary Life Book Campaigns.