Hi, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Linda Holmes. Alexander Hemmins' novel, The World and All

that it holds, is a war story, and it's a love story, too. This young Jewish student in Sarajevo in

1914 named Raphael Pinto has taken over his father's pharmacy, but his life is completely

upended by the beginning of World War I. He goes to fight, but he also finds great love, a soldier named Osman, who's Muslim. The story follows them all the way to China. And while we often talk about love languages as an abstract idea of what makes people feel loved, Raphael and Osman share a love language that's literal.

They're the only ones who speak it.

It grows from their particular history and the history of Sarajevo.

Hemann told NPR's Scott Simon about the book, which covers so much of the world.

So much of a few different worlds, maybe.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Raphael Pinto was there in Sarajevo.

When shots rang out in 1914, let's ask Alexander Hemman to read from his new novel The World and All It Holds.

To the right of Pinto, a short young man, his hair also encamped, a thin strained mustache above his lip.

His eyes sickly pulled out a pistol.

For a moment, no one could do anything nor move.

Even the dog stared at him in bafflement,

while all of the reality hinged on that incongruous detail of a barrel pointed directly

at their imperial highnesses.

...