Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
Book Feature - Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
HBL Note: Susan Meissner is one of my favorite historical fiction authors - I’ll read absolutely everything she writes. It is no surprise that she is a USA Today bestselling author with over 3/4 of a million books sold. On this blog I’ve featured a number of her previous novels including As Bright as Heaven, The Last Year of the War, The Nature of Fragile Things, and now her latest, ONLY THE BEAUTIFUL. Pam Jenoff, author of The Orphan's Tale, said, "With stunning prose and keen detail, Meissner has deftly created a heady mix of love, politics, and survival--a family saga, coming-of-age tale, and riveting historical fiction all in one. A must-read!" Scroll down to read more.
Book Feature - Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
From the publisher:
California, 1938—When she loses her parents in an accident, sixteen-year-old Rosanne is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where she has lived her whole life as the vinedresser’s daughter. She moves into Celine and Truman Calvert’s spacious house with a secret, however—Rosie sees colors when she hears sound. She promised her mother she’d never reveal her little-understood ability to anyone, but the weight of her isolation and grief prove too much for her. Driven by her loneliness she not only breaks the vow to her mother, but in a desperate moment lets down her guard and ends up pregnant. Banished by the Calverts, Rosanne believes she is bound for a home for unwed mothers, and having lost her family she treasures her pregnancy as the chance for a future one. But she soon finds out she is not going to a home of any kind, but to a place far worse than anything she could have imagined.
Austria, 1947—After witnessing firsthand Adolf Hitler’s brutal pursuit of hereditary purity—especially with regard to “different children”—Helen Calvert, Truman's sister, is ready to return to America for good. But when she arrives at her brother’s peaceful vineyard after decades working abroad, she is shocked to learn what really happened nine years earlier to the vinedresser’s daughter, a girl whom Helen had long ago befriended. In her determination to find Rosanne, Helen discovers that while the war had been won in Europe, there are still terrifying battles to be fought at home.
