Only the Beautiful — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Susan Meisner
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 400

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the winds of fortune that tear them apart by the New York Times 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.

First Impression

Beautiful cover! I have reviews a few other of Meissner’s books and have enjoyed all of them. She is a solid historical fiction writer and there’s usually a twist in her stories that I don’t expect. This book did make me a little hesitant because I just read a historical fiction book that dealt with synesthesia, so I was a little worried they’d be too similar, but I knew Meissner wouldn’t let me down.

What I thought

Rosie is 17 years old, unwed, an orphan, and pregnant. Her guardians send her to what she thinks is going to be a home for unwed mothers, but turns out to be a home for the infirm and psychologically disturbed. She is forced to give up her child for adoption as well as live through some other trials and tribulations. Helen is older and lives in Europe during World War II. Her brother was one of Rosie’s guardians. When Helen comes back to the US, she learns about Rosie’s story and how closely certain parts mirror the experiences she saw in Nazi Germany.

This book is essentially two books in one. The first half is Rosie and her story, the second half is Helen and hers. Each story is told through flashbacks and their present day in the 1940s and eventually 1950s. The story deals a lit with eugenics and the side of Nazi Germany that dealt with the murder of the disabled and not just of the Jews. I do think that sometimes that can be forgotten I the shadow of all of the other horrors. It was interesting to read a WWII historical fiction that highlighted it.

The hard part for me was moving from Rosie’s story to Helens. It happens a little over halfway through the book and it made me a little sad to leave her story. I connected with Rosie a lot during her section and wanted to know that she was ok. It was a little harder for me to connect with Helen. I think this might be because her storyline isn’t quite as personal as Rosie’s, so while you’re in her head just as much, it’s different.