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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Meissner, S. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Woodburn Public Library | Meissner | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
February, 1946 ... World War II is over, but the recovery from the most intimate of its horrors has only just begun for Annaliese Kurtz, a German ballerina desperate to escape her past, and Simone Robinson, the wronged daughter of a French Resistance spy.Now the two women are joining hundreds of other European war brides aboard the renowned RMS Queen Mary to cross the Atlantic and be reunited with their American husbands. Their new lives in the United States brightly beckon until their tightly-held secrets are laid bare in their shared stateroom. When the voyage ends at New York Harbor, only one of them will disembark ...Present day ... Facing a crossroads in her own life, Brette Caslake visits the famously haunted Queen Mary at the request of an old friend. What she finds will set her on a course to solve a seventyyear-old tragedy that will draw her into the heartaches and triumphs of the courageous war brides - and will ultimately lead her to reconsider what she has to sacrifice to achieve her own deepest longings.
Author Notes
In 1995, Susan Meissner was working as a part-time reporter for a county newspaper. In 1998, she was named editor of the Mountain Lake/Butterfield Observer Advocate, the town's weekly paper. The paper was named the Best Weekly Newspaper in Minnesota by the Minnesota Newspaper Association in 2002. She retired later that year to write her first book, Why the Sky is Blue, which was published in 2004. Her other books include The Girl in the Glass, The Shape of Mercy, In All Deep Places, and A Fall of Marigolds.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
A woman who can see ghosts becomes tangled in a mystery involving European war brides who crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary.Brette has had the sight since she was a little girl. The ability to see the dead runs in her family, but ever since an aunt told her she was better off ignoring the ghosts she encounters, that's exactly what she's done. That is, until an old classmate needs her help and Brette inadvertently becomes drawn into the lives of three women from the past. As Brette communicates with a spirit and tries to unravel the mystery behind one of the ship's tragedies, Meissner (Secrets of a Charmed Life, 2015, etc.) also tells the stories of two of the ship's passengers: Annaliese Lange, who is escaping from a marriage to a Nazi, and Simone Devereux, who lost her family in the war. Annaliese's and Simone's stories are engaging and heartbreaking; Brette's point of view, though, is less interesting and never seems as urgent. Also, the multiple points of view are occasionally hard to keep track of, especially when it isn't yet clear how they intersect. Although the stories of Annaliese and Simone are captivating and well-researched, readers may find themselves wishing Meissner had devoted more of the book to the women on the ship and less to Brette and her ability to see ghosts. An interesting World War II narrative is dragged down by a less-engaging present-day story. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Among the thousands of European war brides transported to the U.S. on the Queen Mary in 1946 are French Simone, who suffered terrible violence at the hands of the Gestapo and survived with the help of the Résistance, and Belgian Annaliese, who has assumed the identity of her recently deceased best friend to escape from an abusive Nazi husband. In the present day, Brette Caslake is struggling with a unique gift. She has the Sight, an ability she has inherited from her mother's side of family that enables her to see ghosts. She tries to ignore these generally harmless beings but feels drawn to one she encounters on the Queen Mary, now a floating hotel and museum docked at Long Beach, California. Soon, she finds herself delving into questions surrounding Annaliese's shipboard disappearance. The mashup of ghost story and grounded-in-history drama may leave some readers wishing for more of one or the other. But Meissner's (Secrets of a Charmed Life, 2015) plot twists and relatable characters will keep them engaged.--Quinn, Mary Ellen Copyright 2017 Booklist