The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

Sophie is an Irish immigrant in New York that desperately wants to find a way out.  She's living in a tenement, sharing quarters and not really getting enough to eat.  She's working but she doesn't earn much.  So when she sees an ad in the paper from a man looking for a wife, she answers it.

Berkley and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 2nd.

Sophie travels cross country and meets the man she's to marry.  They get married immediately and he takes her to a new home he's purchased.  She meets his little daughter and falls in love with her.

This is a tale of secrets.  The man lies to her, is guilty of bigamy, and the mother of the little girl is not dead as he says.  Sophie has some secrets of her own.

She meets another wife who is pregnant.  They are both shocked that the same man has married them but with different names.  He comes home while she's still there and rushes up the steps where his pregnant wife is standing with his daughter.  The daughter shoves him and he falls back down the stairs.  Sophie drags him out in the kitchen so the child won't see what she's done.  He's not looking good and Sophie wouldn't care if he died.

Then a big earthquake hits.  The women leave the house and go to a park where they are gathering folks.  The pregnant woman has her baby early and she's taken somewhere else.  Sophie and the girl keep looking for her.  They get reunited and then they find the house is just ashes.  They go to the other lady's house to live.

Sophie goes back and looks for bones but she's not sure he if he died or got away...

Will he come back?

As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner

This is a novel about a young family who is moving to Philadelphia to learn a new trade and try to leave behind the pain of their baby son's death.  All is going well.  Uncle Fred takes them in and he intends to leave the business to their father upon his death.  They make friends at school and at home.  There is a war going on but they aren't affected by it yet.  Then the Spanish Flu comes to town and their father gets called to war ...

Berkley shared an ARC of this book with me for review (thank you).  It is being published today.

The flu spreads from family to family and no one is safe.  Uncle Fred is an undertaker and he soon has no place to store the bodies coming in.  They try to take to food to those who are ill (some do survive) and when the older daughter finds a baby in a house of death, she takes him home.  She thinks they can adopt them and then they won't miss Henry so much.  It's a good idea but it creates a circle that brings pain at the end.

The author writes the story well and you feel the emotions of the characters.  It's a sad tale with death on every corner.  But people are resilient and those who survive come back to life and love after the sorrowful event.  

I especially liked watching the girls grow up.  They each became their own person and are strong in their own way.  I certainly hope they all get to live happily ever after.  They deserve it after the tragedy in their earlier lives.

You feel like you've lived through this moment in history when you read this book.  I won't forget it soon.

A Bridge Across The Ocean by Susan Meissner

This story begins during WW1.  The Queen Mary is taking war brides to the states to reunite with their husbands.  Not everyone on the boat is what they seem...

Berkley Books allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It is being published today.

The story is a bit broken up at the beginning because you are getting the back story of the two main characters of that era.  You can piece it together, though and it smooths out as you read further.

Three women are roommates on this trip and they become friends on the trip over.  At the end, they go on with their lives.  All but one.  One committed suicide.  Except a person from the present day doesn't believe it was suicide...

Brette can see ghosts.  She's rather not and tries to fight it but the ability is there.  When a friend from high school asks her to visit the Queen Mary and see if the ghost of his wife is there, she says no.  But his little daughter believes she is and won't go home willingly.  She finally says yes.  But the ghost she finds is not the girl's mother.  For the first time, Brette feels like she needs to help this ghost to put it at peace.  It's not easy to do.

You learn about the ugly price of war, it's toll on women, and what women will do to survive.  You also learn about friendship:  What true friendship is and how fulfilling it might not make you happy.

The story ties together and the child is satisfied.  Brette is still adjusting to her talent but she feels much better about it at the end.  This one will keep you reading.