Susan Meissner

April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed. Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right. Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved. The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear. From the acclaimed author of The Last Year of the War and As Bright as Heaven comes a gripping novel about the bonds of friendship and mother love, and the power of female solidarity.

The Nature of Fragile Things

In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters - Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa - a chance at a better life. But just months after they arrive, the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew. But even as they lose loved ones, they take in a baby orphaned by the disease who becomes their single source of hope. Amidst the tragedy and challenges, they learn what they cannot live without - and what they are willing to do about it.

As Bright as Heaven

From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II. Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943--aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity. The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences. But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her. The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we've always been is called into question.

The Last Year of the War

"In 1946, two European women, having married American soldiers, board the Queen Mary to reunite with their husbands. But as they journey to the United States, secrets are revealed that will alter their lives forever"--

A Bridge Across the Ocean

Two women living 100 years apart experience similar tragic losses of love, Clara's in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and Taryn's in the collapse of the Twin Towers, are connected through time by a scarf. (historical fiction). Simultaneous.

A Fall of Marigolds

Lauren breaks from family tradition and accepts a job from Abigail Boyles to transcribe a diary written by Marcy Boyles, allegedly killed during the Salem witch trials, but finds herself affected by the diary more than she expected.

A Novel

The Shape of Mercy

A new novel of Hollywood's Golden Age, told with the dual narrative of the present day. When a hat worn by Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind ends up in Christine McAllister's vintage clothing boutique by mistake, her efforts to return it to its owner take her on a journey more enchanting than any movie. And in 1938, Violet Mayfield goes to Hollywood after her dream of having a family falls apart. There, she meets enigmatic Audrey Duvall, a once-rising film star. Their adventures together among Hollywood's glitterati enthral Violet until each woman's deepest desires collide.

Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

Recommended for readers of Sarah Dunant, this new novel about disillusionment, love, and family takes readers from California to the piazzas of Florence, plunging them into a fascinating world of art and history.

The Girl in the Glass

What options does a Christian woman have after she's brutally assaulted by a stranger one night...and becomes pregnant? That's the heartrending situation Claire Holland faces. Happily married and the mother of two when she is attacked, Claire begins an incredible journey on the painful pathway to trusting God "in all things." When Claire's husband, Dan, confesses he could never become a father to the expected child, Claire's decision to put the baby up for adoption creates a sense of tremendous loss for Claire...and for her 12-year-old daughter, Kate. Then, 16 years later, the relinquished child re-enters the lives of the Holland family, with unexpected consequences. This wonderful and warm first novel isn't a "love story....but a "life story, presenting the twin themes of learning to trust God in tragic circumstances and reaping the rewards that eventually come with sacrificial loving.

Why the Sky Is Blue

The author of A Bridge Across the Ocean and The Last Year of the War journeys from the present day to World War II England, as two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime... Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden—one that will test her convictions and her heart. 1940s, England. As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London’s civilian population, hundreds of thousands of children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for her sister’s presence. Acting at cross purposes just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction, the sisters are cruelly separated, and their lives are transformed...

Secrets of a Charmed Life

Back home again after his father'sstroke Luke treis to unravel the mystery of Norah, his childhood friend plagued by misfortune.

In All Deep Places

After her husband leaves her, Jane Lindsay finds an old ring in a box of relics from a British jumble sale and discovers a Latin inscription in the band along with just one other word: "Jane." Feeling instant connection to the mysterious ring bearing hernamesake, Jane begins a journey to learn more about the ring--and perhaps about herself and the lives of a sixteenth century dressmaker, Lucy Day, and the innocent young woman known in history as Lady Jane Grey.

Lady in Waiting

Nádherný šál, zdobený vyšitými "ohnivými květy" aksamitníky, propojuje přes sto let jak příběhy dvou žen, tak i dvě velké newyorské katastrofy, které jim tragicky zasáhly do života. Osudy dvou žen jsou přes vzdálenost století provázány podobným zážitkem - zatímco zdravotní sestra Clara v roce 1911 zažila tragický požár textilní továrny v New Yorku, v němž přišla o přítele, o téměř sto let mladší textilní výtvarnice Taryn v roce 2001 prožila z bezprostřední blízkosti teroristický útok na "dvojčata" Světového obchodního centra, v jehož zřícených věžích zahynul její manžel. Jejich osudy, kromě podobnosti zážitků i způsobu, jakým své trauma prožívají, jsou doslova provázány neobvykle krásnou šálou s vyšitými květy afrikánů - aksamitníků. Ani jedné z nich tento šál vlastně nepatřil, ale oběma zasáhl velmi výrazně do života. Obě ženy musejí zpracovat svůj žal a ztrátu, a na cestě k nové naději a možné lásce je tento šál provází.

Ohnivé květy

Convinced that her brother, Joshua, is innocent, lawyer Rachael Flynn begs him to let her represent him after he confesses to murder, but when he refuses, Rachael begins an investigation that leads her to suspect that Joshua knows the identity of the real killer. Original.

Widows & Orphans

After being left at the altar, Daisy Murien opens a secondhand wedding dress boutique, where a retired Episcopal priest blesses the tiny, blue satin heart she sews into each gown, but when the priest falls ill, Daisy begins to understand why she has never sold her own dress.

Blue Heart Blessed

In de indrukwekkende en emotionele roman 'Het geheim van geluk' van Susan Meissner raken twee zussen wreed van elkaar gescheiden tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Heden, Oxford, Engeland. De geschiedenisstudente Kendra van Zant krijgt de opdracht iemand te interviewen die de Duitse bombardementen in Londen heeft meegemaakt. Precies op het moment dat deze dame, Isabel MacFarland, heeft besloten haar verhaal over de oorlog begint prijs te geven. Een verhaal van geheimen die ze jarenlang voor zich heeft gehouden... zoals haar ware identiteit. 1940, Londen, Engeland. Terwijl Hitler zich ongenadig keert tegen de burgerbevolking van Londen, worden honderdduizenden kinderen geëvacueerd naar adoptiegezinnen op het platteland. De vijftien jaar oude Emmy Downtree en haar jongere zusje Julia krijgen onderdak in een cottage in de Cotswolds. Emmy voelt zich verantwoordelijk voor haar zusje, maar wil niets liever dan terug naar de stad om haar droom van modeontwerper na te jagen. En Julia staat erop dat ze haar meeneemt. Terug in Londen worden Emmy en Julia verrast door de loeiende sirenes. Tijdens het bombardement raken ze op wrede wijze van elkaar gescheiden en neemt hun leven een andere wending...

twee zussen raken wreed gescheiden tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog

Het geheim van geluk

Megan Diamond retreats back into her shell when tragedy strikes, taking her best friend Jen away from her, but as the years pass, Megan learns that it is better to risk getting hurt by those she loves than to close her heart off forever.

A Window to the World

Mindy Starns Clark

Matthew and Amanda Zook discover an old but beautifully ornate clock. After examining it, they discover a secret that indicates it belonged to the Amish clockmaker Clayton Raber, who, fifty years earlier, was arrested for the murder of his wife, despite his claims of innocence. Can they help him now?

The Amish Clockmaker

New from bestselling authors Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner, The Amish Groom (Book 1 in The Men of Lancaster County series) explores the men of an Amish community in Lancaster County, how their Amish beliefs play out in their unique roles, and the women who change their lives. Born to an ex-Amish mother and an Englisch father, 23-year-old Tyler Anderson was raised as a military kid until the age of 6, when his mom passed away. His dad, shipping off to yet another overseas post, placed Tyler in the care of his Amish grandparents, an arrangement that was supposed to be temporary. It lasted a lifetime. Rachel Hoeck is the young woman waiting for Tyler’s proposal. She senses that though he loves her and wishes to make a commitment to her and his Amish beliefs, part of him still wonders whether an Amish lifestyle is truly for him. When an opportunity to connect with his father unexpectedly arises, a visit to California causes Tyler to question everything, including a future with Rachel. Will the new girl in his life, Lark, cause him to remain in the Englisch world? Or will he choose to be an Amish groom after all? A poignant novel of hoping for romance and searching for identity, set in a beloved Amish community.

Susan Meissner

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