400 pages Berkley publisher April 18,2023 publish date

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.

About The Book

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.

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My Thoughts

Only The Beautiful is absolutely heartbreaking.

California 1938, When Rosie is sixteen years old there is a tragic accident that takes her parents and brother’s life. Rosie has nowhere to go and the owners of the vineyard who her parents worked for reluctantly have taken her in. No compassion is shown to her by The Calvert’s, and she is a maid there. When she falls pregnant through no fault of her own, she is sent to an institution. Her Mama told her to never tell her secret, she has Synesthesia, (When you hear music and see shapes or see a color when you hear a word.) Because this is not an understood thing at that time this is why she was sent to an institution.
The institution practices eugenics, after her giving birth, this is forced on her.

Austria, 1947, Helen is the sister of Truman Calvert and has nannied out of the country for decades. Helen has seen many injustices including eugenics and the death of disabled people being ordered. When the children she cares for no longer need her she returns to the USA and is determined to meet and help Rosie who has aged out of the institution.

Its absolutely heartbreaking to read what has happened during the eugenics movement which began during the Progressive Era and remained active through 1940. It began in England then moved to the US and other countries.

I did enjoy Rosie’s and Helen’s characters a lot. They were kind and gracious people despite what they had endured and experienced.
I have always enjoyed reading this author’s books as she brings to light subjects that should not be forgotten. This is historical fiction at it’s best!

Pub Date 18 Apr 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

The Author

Susan Meissner is the USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction with more than three-quarters of a million books in print in eighteen languages. Her novels include The Nature of Fragile Things, starred review Publishers Weekly; The Last Year of the War, a Library Reads and Real Simple top pick; As Bright as Heaven, starred review from Library Journal; Secrets of a Charmed Life, a 2015 Goodreads Choice award finalist; and A Fall of Marigolds, named to Booklist’s Top Ten women’s fiction titles for 2014. She is also RITA finalist and Christy Award and Carol Award winner. A California native, she attended Point Loma Nazarene University and is also a writing workshop volunteer for Words Alive, a San Diego non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth foster a love for reading and writing.

Visit Susan at her website: https://susanmeissnerauthor.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/susanmeissnerauthor/ on Twitter at @SusanMeissner or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/susan.meissner

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