A Map to Paradise

By: Susan Meissner

Dakota County Library hardcover 336 pages plus author's note

Published: 2025

Genre: historical fiction

This was an interesting book to read, but I missed the discussion. I've really enjoyed Meissner's writing in the past but she seems to have moved away from Christian fiction and barely acknowledged the Lord. Her author's notes were interesting. She researches well. Despite me not loving this book, I have a lot of post-it notes hanging out of it! I may cull some.

Page 35: "Maybe it was time to gauge her resilience. How did a person know how strong they were if their strength was never tested?"

It's interesting that this is in reference to Eva, but the sentiment could definitely apply to the other main characters Melanie (a blacklisted actress) and June (neighbor caring for reclusive b-i-l). This is an interesting question for me. How strong am I? I've been tested in the past and want to believe I rely on God for strength.

Page 70 has so many interesting clues about Elwood that Eva picks up on . . . I love that she doesn't tell Melanie her suspicions and instead befriends June. An experienced cleaner picks up on details that others would easily miss.

Page 79: "Perhaps because she understood better than anyone that life doesn't always hand a person good options at the same time it is handing them terrible circumstances."

This makes me think of something I often say, "There are always choices." True, but sometimes life gives us various hard choices with no pleasant, easy one.

Page 98 talks about blacklisting and how this went down in the 1950s. I knew this info, but was reminded how awful fear, suspicion, accusations, government strong-arming, etc. can be. Lives were destroyed by McCarthyism. It's hard to believe our current president is trying so hard to be buddies with Communist leaders and yet enacting some of the same strong-arm tactics in our country today.

Page 108: "What they are asking people on that stand is a violation of basic civil rights. Read the First Amendment. We have the right to assemble, the right to discuss political ideas, even if they aren't popular. The right to dissent if we so choose. You want to talk about who is being un-American, it's that committee. They have no legal right to ask what they are asking."

Carson was one of my least favorite characters in the book, but he was the typical wealthy, handsome, self-centered, use-other-people actor. This rant is good, though. He says it in a phone call with Melanie and it obviously doesn't make her feel any better!

Page 256: "A surprise could be both hard and wonderful." 

In general, I only love delightful surprises. When Melanie's brother Alex shows up with his son Nicky, the shock is a bit much. Then Melanie decides to take her nephew to visit her own parents. I can't imagine not hearing from a child in over a decade and then finding out we had a grandchild! That's beyond a surprise.

Page 258: "Because there is no map to paradise."

 

I love seeing where the title comes from within the book. This can be taken literally or figuratively. The fires have made it hard to navigate back to Paradise (Avenue, Street, Road, whatever) but there's no easy way to find the paradise our hearts crave. This is one of the places I think Meissner missed the opportunity to glorify God.

Page 264: "If I've learned anything from these months on the blacklist, it's that it does no good to wish you could change the past. Or the future. It's impossible."

 

 Oh my, regretting or wishing the past were different . . . what a waste of energy! (Been there, done that.)

The Nature of Fragile Things

by Susan Meissner

Carver County (?) ebook via Overdrive

Published: 2021

Genre: Christian historical fiction

This was a very delightful book, even though I prefer reading physical print books. Meissner is a wonderful storyteller and there were enough twists and turns that I was surprised by how certain events turned out. It was not spiritually inspiring in terms of faith, but it was uplifting in terms of human nature.

Sophie is an Irish immigrant who leaves the cold and hunger of New York City tenement living to get married to Martin Hocking in San Francisco. They have met through an ad and letters, but wed within the hour of her arriving. Martin has a five year old daughter named Kat (Katharine) who doesn't speak, ostensibly traumatized by the death of her mother. I don't want to put any spoilers here, but this was a quick, "page-turning" book and I enjoyed reading it and discussing it at book club. 

 

The earthquake of 1906, the fires, evacuating the city, Martin's secrets, danger, friends and foes, . . . 

These are four of the excerpts I grabbed with screen shots:

I love how Sophie and Kat connected. I love the idea of home being a "sacred place where your soul is at rest because all the people you love most are there." 

I always like to see where the title originated. And the "nature of fragile things to break" speaks volumes. I love this author's work!

Kat's silence was so concerning throughout the book. I love how Sophie connected with her and was sensitive to her. I wish there had been a reconnection with Mrs. Lewis, the landlady from the start of the book!

The marshall was a hero. The interview segments were interspersed throughout the story, helping to further the plot. I really wasn't sure where this was going! I love the final scene, too, in a courtroom, with the U.S. Marshal Ambrose Logan and Kat. What a delightful book!

The Last Year of the War

by Susan Meissner
Carver County Library hardcover 386 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Another wonderful story by Meissner! She's one of my favorite authors we read for book club. This one follows Elise Sontag from her present day elderly situation into her past in 1940s America and Germany. Much of the book focuses on her unlikely friendship in a detention center with a Japanese American girl, Mariko. Elise's father and mother have lived in the United States for twenty years but have not applied for citizenship status when WWII and its fearfulness interrupt their lives in Davenport, Iowa.

I didn't tag any pages in the first half of the book . . . though there was much that I enjoyed. I especially liked the opening pages as Elise describes Alzheimer's as the thief Agnes who steals parts of her life and brain from her. Having seen the devastation that dementia can wreak in a loved-one's life . . . this was a very apt description!

Page 177 - "You know, I don't think it matters now what happened in the past . . . What's important is what happens now. Today." Words of wisdom from Rina, Mariko's adult daughter!

Page 199 - "I had never had a grandmother speak to me this way or look at me with the kind of love with which she was now gazing at me. . . . She loved me without having met me. . . It was so hard to know who I was in that moment, other than a teenage girl loved by her grandmother." Oma is the kind of grandmother I want to be! Loving so extravagantly that the child feels it and knows it thoroughly. (Though I would never want to go for 13 years without meeting a grandchild!) I think part of the reason I tagged this was simply because of that extravagant love . . . like God has for us.

Page  218 - "Love, when it's lavished on you after you've said ugly things, is almost too painful to bear." After the teenaged Elise had erupted at her parents and spewed all her unhappiness, her dad comforts her beautifully. His acceptance of her feelings and understanding of her expression of frustration . . . great parenting!

Page 234 - "We decide who and what we will love and who and what we will hate. We decide what we will do with the love and hate. Every day we decide. It was this that revealed who we were, not the color of our flesh or the shape of our eyes or the language we spoke." To me, this is the key point of the book. Powerful and true - our choices and decisions make us who we are.

Page 269 - "The rich have always been able to get what they want and do what they want. Money is power, Elise. It always has been." Ralph is so very right in terms of "how the world works" but his cynicism is still discouraging. Elise is so young and inexperienced in how the world works. He doesn't make things easy on her!

Page 281 - "The human brain, I have since read, is still ripening when we're seventeen. It's still growing, still forming thought patterns and avenues for arriving at logical conclusions, and it doesn't stop maturing until we reach age twenty-five." Amen! This is so true and yet 18 year olds are legal adults . . . brain development is fascinating.

Page 302 - "She nods in understanding. Mother-love transcends biology." When Elise and Mariko are talking about their lives, Elise explains Pamela and Teddy. This made me think of Katie of course!

Page 379 - "I wanted them to see that not everyone is lucky enough to have family around who love them, and I also wanted them to know that we are all on the road that leads to the edge of our mortality. Life is too brief to waste a minute of it chasing after things that don't matter." Elise brought Pamela and Teddy to nursing homes with her while they were young . . . life's lessons have power.

A reference on page 382 made me think of The Secret Language of Flowers . . . and then yesterday, I saw a copy of it on the library's "discard" cart. I almost bought it, but it's a large print edition and those tend to make me batty when I read them. I love that book and will probably re-read it! This title by Meissner was quite good, but there are others of hers that I like better. The Alzheimer's aspect most resonated with me . . . how awful to start losing parts of your memory and mind.

As Bright As Heaven

by Susan Meissner
Carver County Library hardcover 387 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Generalities - well-written, fascinating look at the era (1918-1925), great characters, chapters told from POV of the mom and each of the daughters. Don't remember if any were told by male characters.

Pauline, her husband Thomas, and their three daughters Evelyn (15), Maggie (12), and Willa (6) move to Philadelphia when baby Henry dies at six months old. Thomas goes from working in the tobacco barns for his dad to working as an undertaker with his uncle Fred. The impact of the war and the Spanish influenza affect this family deeply. Death is a main character in this book!

Page 70 - ". . . I think that grief is such a strange guest, making its home in a person like it's a new thing that no one has ever experienced before. It is different for every person." So true! This just struck me. Grief is a strange guest that makes itself at home.

Page 116 - "I am suddenly overcome by my inability to understand why some will survive the flu and some won't. Why some babies live and some don't. Why some people pass away in a warm bed full of years while others have their breath snatched from them before they've earned so much as one gray hair." The essential unfairness of this is something I've struggled with. I trust God completely, but would love to ask Him why things are this way.

Page 180 - Without putting a spoiler here, I'll just say that I was sobbing after reading this page . . .

Page 211 - This was almost too much! "Evie was already home and she was sad. Her favorite teacher, Mr. Galway, is dead. And a boy she liked named Gilbert." Enough with the dying! This started to make me think of Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793 . . . what a wonderful way to study history - through fiction! Even depressing aspects of history . . .

Page 225 - "That's how it is. Something breaks, you fix it as best you can. There's always a way to make something better, even if it means sweeping up the broken pieces and starting all over. That's how we keep moving, keep breathing, keep opening our eyes every morning, even when the only thing we know for sure is that we're still alive." Although this is a somewhat bleak place to be, it rings true. Looking for the positives, looking ahead - that's important.

Page 379 - "When something good happens, and even when something bad happens, you want to share it with the person who holds your heart." This is so true! I'm so grateful that I can share with Louie - the good, the bad, the everyday. This is one of the things that was hard about losing my mom; some of the things I wanted to share with her (about teaching, life, etc.) I couldn't anymore.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but was disappointed that Meissner's writing seems to be getting more secular and less faith-focused. She's an excellent writer, but I want to read Christian fiction that challenges and / or grows my faith. This was just a good book set in an interesting era with interesting characters.

A Bridge Across the Ocean

by Susan Meissner
Scott County Library paperback 348 pages
genre: Historical fiction

This book surprised me a bit, since ghosts and people who can communicate with ghosts are the focus. Usually Meissner's books are a bit more inspiring. She did the usual multiple characters / different eras thing . . . and even though they all come together, it's a bit disconcerting to have to keep track of the characters and their storylines.

page 162 - Everett has Simone find a French Bible so he can learn the language (and he can teach Simone English from his Bible) - love this scene!

page 247 - Simone is reliving her nightmare of being raped by the Gestapo officer and her horror at having shot him to death. "There had been a time when the man with the gold tooth had been a little boy who loved playing with his dog and fishing with his grandfather and eating ice cream on hot summer days. Back then he didn't have a gold tooth, or the uniform, or the desire to kill and steal and destroy. He had been like her. Young and curious and hopeful. Something had happened to that little boy." Sometimes I need to think about who people really are and how they became that way. . . including myself.

page 262 - When Brette is having the conversation with her mother about choosing to get pregnant, even knowing that the Sight might be passed to a girl, her mom's response is perfect. "But we don't ever get to know those kinds of things about our unborn children, Brette. That's the beauty and burden of having a child. You don't pick and choose the one you think you want, you are handed the one God gives you."

page 324 - "You can't wish for control; you can only learn to play your part in a world where nothing is truly certain."

page 345 - Annaliese's letter to Brette - "Life will send us across a bridge we did not want to cross, but when we finally open our eyes on the other side, we see that there had been nothing to fear after all."

I'm looking forward to book club tonight to discuss this!

Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

by Susan Meissner
Hennepin County Library paperback 352 pages
genre: historical fiction

I read this over a week ago and book club discussed it exactly a week ago. Upshot? Not Meissner's best, but pleasant enough. The modern-day frame story was not very effective or purposeful; it's just a Meissner technique that actually distracts in this book.

Violet Mayfield heads to Hollywood in 1938 after "her dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart." She gets a job as a secretary, meets and moves in with Audrey Duvall (almost a decade older, far more glamorous and worldly, but also a secretary). The two women share their stories and lives bit by bit until jealousy and lies wreak havoc. It's a bit overwrought.

There was definitely a theme of being wanted. "It's intoxicating to be treated like you're a rare gem. There's no other feeling in the world like it." (page 14) When Audrey is talking about what Selznick did to get Clark Gable to play Rhett in Gone with the Wind, she says, "Can you imagine being wanted that way? Can you imagine what that must feel like?"

There were two places where I wondered if proofreaders exist any more. Page 132 has "Audrey watched Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara continue her search for Dr. Meade. She imagined herself in the drab . . . " (Shouldn't it be "continued"?) And on page 276, "Why are you are here?" (Verbatim. Read it aloud.)

Page 252 resonated very strongly for me. Violet is parenting little Lainie solo AND caring for her mother-in-law while Bert is off in the military. Her resentment toward her m-i-l . . . yeah. I get that.

On page 322 (and in other spots), I was struck by the strong bond of friendship between these two women. That made Violet's pettiness seem even more pointless.

I loved this! "'That hat is the color of envy and greed,' Violet murmured. 'Not always. Not today.' Audrey took her hand in a gesture of solidarity. 'Today green is the color of life springing up out of the earth, Violet. Today it's the color of new beginnings.'"

In the reader's guide and Q and A with the author, I was disappointed in Meissner's comment that fear and love are closely intertwined. I don't agree. I was also surprised that the title of the book didn't seem nearly as significant as something about the nightingale would have been. The book was less Christian that her previous books . . . and Jodi pointed out that she's with a different publisher now. I hope this is not a sign of the "new" Meissner. I like her older books better!

Secrets of a Charmed Life

by Susan Meissner
Carver County Library paperback 386 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

I am so glad we have book club tonight! I liked, but wasn't head-over-heels in love with this one. I wonder what Jodi thought of it. It takes place during WWII, primarily in London, but also in the countryside where the children are evacuated. The story opens with a history student scoring an interview with a secret story of what happened during the evacuation of the children during WWII.

page 11 - "If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree," - Michael Crichton. I'm not a huge fan of history, but I recognize the importance of it. I loved this quote from Crichton.

page 89 - the description of Charlotte made me think, "I want to be like this!" ". . . her skin was wrinkled but in a nice way, as if she had one day started smiling and then had never stopped." This really resonated for me. Throughout the story, what Charlotte says and does (and how she says and does it) made me think about the kind of person I am and who I want to be.

page 109 - When Charlotte invited them to pray at their first meal together. "It had been a long time since Emmy and Julia had been in the same room with someone who spoke to God out of reverence." This makes me think of the importance of being true to God - we never know when we are setting an example.

page 142 - The foreshadowing is more like foreshouting. "She would look back on that moonlit night and wonder and wonder and wonder what she would have done had she considered that the owl that awakened Julia was divinely sent so that she wouldn't leave Thistle House that night."

page 185 - "But on that Sunday morning when fires still burned and the dead were still being carried out and the extent of the destruction still could not be fathomed, a missing seven-year-old was just another calamity in a collection of calamities the likes of which no one had seen before." So much of our personal tragedies are wrapped within a framework of what else is happening.

page 216 - "Grief sapped her of mental clarity and made her feel weak. She could not be a companion to it now. All that mattered was finding Julia." So true that grief can sap you. This also resonated for me.

page 252 - "Thistle House is for people who love and care for one another. We respect one another in this house, Emmeline. We carry one another's burdens. We weep for one another and we laugh with one another. We hold one another by the hand when the lights go out and when the way seems hopeless. We work together and we share the table together and we pray together. No matter how old we are or what we are called." Love this! Sounds like a home motto you could hang on your wall!

page 268 - Talk about collapsing a story line! "The next two years were spent in a mindless routine . . . " Well. That helps to grow her up to legal age!

page 291 - Well. I had to read this page twice. I didn't think she would go there and do that . . . knowing what had happened to her mother. And where did this come from? "But life is lived at the moment you are living it, she thought. No one but God in heaven has the benefit of seeing beyond today." And is that supposed to be an absolution of her mistakes? I may have to re-read this page a third or fourth time . . .

page 331 - The scene where Julia and Frannie are in the boat and Frannie is seeking reassurance from the mute Julia. Julia's nods and the word "maybe" were significant. "The girl who knew what war was like was telling her not to give up hope." Hope is powerful!

page 359 - ". . . if I know anything about time, it is that it stretches to walk with you when you grieve. The rest of the world may zoom past at breakneck speed, but when you are learning to live with loss, time slows to the pace of your breathing."

page 381 - I love Colin, the money, and the way things worked out for Thistle House!

page 384 - the end of the interview. This didn't really work for me. We don't get to know Kendra well enough to really care about her story. And Isabel is a bit enigmatic about her purposes here.

My ending frustration is that the neighbor didn't just leave a not in the flat! How hard would it have been?!?! Okay. Overall, a wonderful story.

The Girl in the Glass

by Susan Meissner
Hennepin County Library paperback 325 pages
genre: Christian fiction, relationships

Basic story: young woman named Meg (Marguerite) has always wanted to go to Florence, Italy. Grandma promised to take her for high school graduation, but died when Meg was only 12. Dad promises to take her, but keeps flaking out. Meg called off an engagement when she realized she didn't love him as much as he loved her. She works at a publishing house and dates Gabe . . . on and off. Intermingled story line is the manuscript sent to her by Sophia, a native of Florence who lives across from a brother and sister team of photographer and author. Sophia's story is part memoir, part travelog for the beauties of Florence. Intertwined with these two stories is a narrative from Nora, a Medici who lived in the early Renaissance.

It was enjoyable, but not gripping. Meg's attraction to Devon (mom's younger boyfriend) was the most interesting part to me. I wish I could go to Italy. I'm a bit surprised at who Meg ends up with at the end of the book. The stuff with her dad was a bit much.

A Sound Among the Trees

by Susan Meissner
Hennepin County Library paperback 324 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Marielle marries Carson knowing about his dead wife, two wonderful children, and the historic home in Fredericksburg where his grandmother-in-law Adelaide resides. But she has no idea the stories that have become engrained in people's minds about the house, Adelaide's great-grandmother Susannah, and the potential for ghosts and spirits to continue wreaking havoc on the lives of those who live at Holly Oak.

I enjoyed this story and look forward to tonight's book club discussion. My favorites were the old letters Susannah wrote during the Civil War and Caroline's impact on modern-day events. I didn't like the eerie house-is-haunted nonsense. Some people!

Lady in Waiting

by Susan Meissner
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 10 hours
read by Donna Rawlins and Samantha Eggar

A dual story of Jane Lindsay, whose husband walks away from their marriage, and Lady Jane Grey, told from her seamstress Lucy's perspective, this book was not fun for me. The genuine surprise when Brad says he's not sure he loves his wife any more bothered me. The historical aspect of the tragic Jane of middle ages was more to my liking. Interesting stuff, the intrigue and power plays of those closest to power. I really liked the letters at the end, telling the story of the ring that the modern-day Jane could never know.

Our discussion was lively, as usual, with Kim E and I seeing much of it the same way. Women and choices . . .

4/8/13
I did a re-listen (it's been two years - I didn't really remember when I grabbed it at the library).
Dislike: modern Jane's wishy-washy personality and overbearing mother
Like: the story of the ring and the historical fiction that makes me want to know more about the Tudors.
Both vocal performers were great!

Sticks & Stones

by Susan Meissner
Lake Agassiz Regional Library, paperback, 248 pages

In this one, Rachael, Trace, and McKenna have moved back to the Twin Cities. Rachael is now working for Ramsey County when she receives a note that a body will be found. She shares the note with her friend Will Pendleton, and they again embark on an investigation.

I enjoyed this story a little less than the previous one. Maybe I'm just too hard to please with books - kind of like Louie with restaurants. Rachael and Trace have an almost cloyingly perfect relationship. It seems that the things Rachael agonizes over are a bit over-done.

I think I prefer Meissner's Why the Sky Is Blue over these Flynn mysteries, but maybe I shouldn't have read them sequentially . . . I think my favorite is still Figaro and his approach to life and creativity. Fun!

Widows & Orphans

by Susan Meissner
Lake Agassiz Regional Library, paperback, 267 pages

Rachael Flynn's brother has confessed to murder, but Rachael is sure he's lying to help someone else. Josh had dedicated his life at age 12 to helping widows and orphans, in obedience to James 1:27. As attorney Rachael and her artist husband, Trace, return to Minnesota from NYC, they also have their baby McKenna to take care of.

The uncovering of the truth was well-done, with pieces coming bit by bit. I love the character of Figaro! What a great description of a quirky friend! Detective Will Pendleton was pretty cool, but perhaps a bit unrealistically portrayed in allowing Rachael full access to the investigation. . . Overall, a nice little mystery.