Susan Meissner

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Mississippi

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

d9f12aec-c45d-4cfd-976e-f77c242aca3a-1

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

California

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. Original. 50,000 first printing.

A Fall of Marigolds

f7a2d01e-ced7-484b-942a-4b2ce19ab3a9-1

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

New Jersey

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. 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

d2a64dff-dc88-4575-8ef3-8f708016437b-1

Illinois

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.

3007162c-0424-46a4-93c2-8355ff4a8e94-1

#paperback #fiction #adult #historicalfiction #romance #worldwar2 

Kansas

An elderly Oxford woman reminisces about her childhood during World War II, during which she was evacuated from London during the Blitz and was separated from her sister. Includes reader's guide. By the author of A Fall of Marigolds. Original.

Secrets of a Charmed Life

22529ecf-3024-4032-95c4-1bf5c2b4f830-1

A heartrending story about a young mother's fight to keep her daughter, and the winds of fortune that tear them apart by the USA Today bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things and The Last Year of the War.
 
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.

Only the Beautiful

Slight shelf wear on dust jacket. Remainder dot on bottom text block. 

Ohio

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

b9d7a512-8007-49e1-9ffe-4af2aabebfe4-1

1943. When Elise Sontag's father is arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathiser, the family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar. The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese American teen from Los Angeles. 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 whether she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and reclaim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.

A Best Historical Fiction of Spring Pick by Amazon, PopSugar, AARP, and BookBub! A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the terrible injustice that tears them apart, by the USA Today bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things and The Last Year of the War. 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. But she soon finds out she is not going to a home of any kind, but to a place that seeks to forcibly take her baby – and the chance for any future babies – from her. 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 a shocking American eugenics program—and learns that that while the war had been won in Europe, there are still terrifying battles to be fought at home.

Ariel Lawhon

Kristina McMorris

A Story of the Angels of Bataan

From three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.

The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S. Army nurse Penny Franklin, and Filipina nurse Lita Capel forge a friendship at the Army Navy Club in Manila, they believe they're living a paradise assignment. All three are seeking a way to escape their pasts, but soon the beauty and promise of their surroundings give way to the heavy mantle of war.

Caught in the crosshairs of a fight between the U.S. military and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of the Philippine Islands, the nurses are forced to serve under combat conditions and, ultimately, endure captivity as the first female prisoners of the Second World War. As their resiliency is tested in the face of squalid living arrangements, food shortages, and the enemy's blatant disregard for the articles of the Geneva Convention, the women strive to keep their hope-- and their fellow inmates--alive, though not without great cost.

In this sweeping story based on the true experiences of nurses dubbed "the Angels of Bataan," three women shift in and out of each other's lives through the darkest days of the war, buoyed by their unwavering friendship and distant dreams of liberation.

"Three of the biggest powerhouses in historical fiction come together to pen this breathtaking story of three nurses serving in the Philippines during the Second World War." --PAM JENOFF, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman with the Blue Star

 * World War II historical fiction
 * Stand-alone novel
 * Book length: approximately 128,000 words
 * Includes discussion questions for book clubs

When We Had Wings

08ec00fe-9bec-49a4-a3bd-51aa21b6db57-1

Now available in paperback at a lower price! From three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.

"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

d11fe64b-e3ba-4a6f-8160-5468944dfb23-1

Pennsylvania

In this novel from the acclaimed author of A Bridge Across the Ocean and The Last Year of the War, two women working in Hollywood during its Golden Age discover the joy and heartbreak of true friendship. Los Angeles, Present Day. When an iconic 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 classic movie.... Los Angeles, 1938. Violet Mayfield sets out to reinvent herself in Hollywood after her dream of becoming a wife and mother falls apart, and lands a job on the film-set of Gone With the Wind. There, she meets enigmatic Audrey Duvall, a once-rising film star who is now a fellow secretary. Audrey's zest for life and their adventures together among Hollywood's glitterati enthrall Violet...until each woman's deepest desires collide. What Audrey and Violet are willing to risk, for themselves and for each other, to ensure their own happy endings will shape their friendship, and their lives, far into the future. CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED

Stars over Sunset Boulevard

3f5984bc-8a40-4e6e-86eb-d5c0eeb39ede-1

Connecticut

1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle. With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation. Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone? As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it’s a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke…

A Map to Paradise

bd57b899-0f6e-4c34-ab86-941223a96481-0

A Novel

"We understand what we want to understand."Leaving a life of privilege to strike out on her own, Lauren Durough breaks with convention and her family's expectations by choosing a state college over Stanford and earning her own income over accepting her ample monthly allowance. She takes a part-time job from 83-year-old librarian Abigail Boyles, who asks Lauren to transcribe the journal entries of her ancestor Mercy Hayworth, a victim of the Salem witch trials.Almost immediately, Lauren finds herself drawn to this girl who lived and died four centuries ago. As the fervor around the witch accusations increases, Mercy becomes trapped in the worldview of the day, unable to fight the overwhelming influence of snap judgments and superstition, and Lauren realizes that the secrets of Mercy's story extend beyond the pages of her diary, living on in the mysterious, embittered Abigail.The strength of her affinity with Mercy forces Lauren to take a startling new look at her own life, including her relationships with Abigail, her college roommate, and a young man named Raul. But on the way to the truth, will Lauren find herself playing the helpless defendant or the misguided judge? Can she break free from her own perceptions and see who she really is?

The Shape of Mercy

When Marielle marries Carson Bishop and moves into Holly Oaks, his dead wife's Virginia family home, she investigates stories that the house is haunted by her ancestress, Susannah Page, who is rumored to have been a Civil War spy.

A Sound among the Trees

Arizona

When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. The girl is practically an orphan: motherless, and living with a father who raises Tally wherever he lands– in a Buick, a pizza joint, a horse farm–and regularly takes off on wild schemes. Amanda envisions that she, her husband Neil, and their two teenagers can offer the girl stability and a shot at a “normal” life, even though their own storybook lives are about to crumble.

Seventeen-year-old Chase Janvier hasn’t seen his cousin in years, and other than a vague curiosity about her strange life, he doesn’t expect her arrival will affect him much–or interfere with his growing, disturbing interest in a long-ago house fire that plagues his dreams unbeknownst to anyone else.

Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.

Will Tally’s presence blow apart their carefully-constructed world, knocking down the illusion of the white picket fence and reveal a hidden past that could destroy them all–or can she help them find the truth without losing each other?

White Picket Fences

cdad9d77-551b-48ad-9e4d-730e7b2e7a8c-1

#paperback #fiction #historicalfiction #bestseller #susanmeissner #ladyinwaiting 

Florida

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

5b1c6b47-27a7-4be2-83da-9eba984d74fb-1

Mindy Starns Clark

#paperback #romance #christian #amish #amishfiction 

From bestselling authors Mindy Starns Clark and Susan Meissner, The Amish Clockmaker (Book 3 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.

Newlywed Matthew Zook is expanding his family's tack and feed store when a surprising property dispute puts the remodel on hold--and raises new questions about the location's mysterious past.

Decades earlier, the same building housed a clock shop run by a young Amish clockmaker named Clayton Raber. Known for his hot temper, Clayton was arrested for the murder of his beloved wife, a crime almost everyone--including his own family members--believed he'd committed, even after charges were dropped. Isolated and feeling condemned by all, Clayton eventually broke from the church, left Lancaster County, and was never heard from again.

Now the only way Matthew can solve the boundary issue and save his family's business is to track down the clockmaker. But does this put Matthew on the trail of a murderer?

A timeless novel of truth, commitment, and the power of enduring love, where secrets of the past give way to hope for the future.

The Amish Clockmaker

3a8ea288-1c0c-4694-ae63-f044154d76bf-1

Exlibrary book in very good condition. 

We have over 2,500 books for you to search or browse.  All genres. 

While shopping don't forget to check out our discounts.  

Indiana

From the author of A Window to the World. When an old friend asks Tess Longren to accompany her to their childhood home to resolve a situation left unsettled 15 years ago, Tess falsely imagines that by helping her friend find peace, she will find contentment for herself.

The Remedy for Regret

0a96770e-e89a-4dc3-b6cc-5b5763188d00-1

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

e2cb5780-08a6-47f8-9dff-5d80d274816d-1

Former library copy with library stamps and stickers.  See photos. 

Kentucky

The Men of Lancaster County 

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.

The Amish Groom

23c9335c-4954-45c2-9304-60d5260eec26-1

What options does aChristian woman have after shea's brutally assaulted by a stranger...and becomespregnant? Thata's the heartrending situation Claire Holland faces. Happily marriedand the mother of two when she is attacked, Claire begins an incredible journeyon the painful pathway to trusting God a'in all things.a? When Clairea'shusband, Dan, confesses he cana't be a father to the expected child, Clairea'sdecision to put the baby up for adoption creates a sense of tremendous loss forClaire. Later, unexpected circumstances turn this seeming loss into victory. This wonderful firstnovel isna't a love story....but a life story, presenting the twin themes trustingGod in tragic circumstances and reaping the rewards that eventually come withsacrificial loving.

Why the Sky Is Blue

bcb64334-11bf-441c-8c48-f4a18732398d-1

SusanMeissner explores what God does in the deep places ofthe human spirit in this story about an acclaimed mystery writer Luke Foxbourne, who lives a happy life in a centuryA'old manorhouse in Connecticut. But whenhis father, Jack, has a stroke, Luke returns to his hometown of Halcyon, Iowa,where he reluctantly takes the reins of his fathera's newspaper for anundetermined amount of time. Memoriesof Noraha'the neighbor girl who was his first kissa'cause Luke to reflect as hespends night after night alone in his childhood home. Soon he feels anuncontrollable urge to start writing a different story altogether. Noraha's story. And his own.

In All Deep Places

Here is the dramaticstory of two young girls, Megan and Jen, who meet in first grade and quicklybecome inseparable friends. Inseparable, thatis, until one of them is snatched away by kidnappers as the other young girlwatches helplessly.A A The remaining childgrows up with the haunting memory of her frienda's abduction...and absence fromher life.A Then, sixteen years later, thestunning truth of the disappearance is revealed. And once again, lives are changedforever. This wonderful andheartrending second novel endears the reader to every character in thisintriguing story. A testament to Goda's ability to a'work allthings together for good.a? A smashing followa'up to the authora'swella'received first novel, Why the Sky Is Blue.

A Window to the World

Retired library book, so has plastic covering as well as some stickers on the covers (see photos). Worn edges with slight yellowing of the paper. 

Michigan

Lawyer Rachael Flynn receives an unsigned, heart-stopping letter: "They're going to find a body at the Prairie Bluff construction site. He deserved what he got, but it wasn't supposed to happen. It was an accident." When the body is uncovered, Rachael and Detective Will Pendleton discover that the fifteen-year old victim, Randall Buckett, had been buried twenty-five years before. Is the letter writer and the killer the same person? Why would someone speak up now? And why are they telling Rachael?

Browse by categories

Susan Meissner

As Bright as Heaven

Susan Meissner

A Fall of Marigolds

Susan Meissner

The Nature of Fragile Things

Susan Meissner

The Nature of Fragile Things

Susan Meissner

Secrets of a Charmed Life

Susan Meissner

Only the Beautiful

Susan Meissner

The Last Year of the War

Susan Meissner

Only the Beautiful

Ariel Lawhon

When We Had Wings

Susan Meissner

A Bridge Across the Ocean

Susan Meissner

Stars over Sunset Boulevard

Susan Meissner

A Map to Paradise

Susan Meissner

The Shape of Mercy

Susan Meissner

A Sound among the Trees

Susan Meissner

White Picket Fences

Susan Meissner

Lady in Waiting

Mindy Starns Clark

The Amish Clockmaker

Susan Meissner

The Remedy for Regret

Susan Meissner

The Girl in the Glass

Mindy Starns Clark

The Amish Groom

Susan Meissner

Why the Sky Is Blue

Susan Meissner

In All Deep Places

Susan Meissner

A Window to the World

Susan Meissner

Sticks and Stones