Susan Meissner - A Fall of Marigolds

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries…and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her?
September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers…the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?

Comment: Four years ago, I had read another book by this author which wasn't as great as I had hoped for, but I wondered if it had been a bad first pick. Now, I've finally decided to give another go at her writing and started this one, but I've finished with similar thoughts.

It's 1911 and emigrants arrive daily at Ellis Island. Clara Wood is a nurse there and it is her job to help with the process of them, for many might arrive ill or had been in ships where others had been ill. Clara loves her job and she feels she is being useful, especially because she is still mourning the what if after the death of a man she was sweet on and whom she believed felt the same way towards her. Things start to change when a new batch of patients arrive, in particular Andrew Gwynn, a Welsh man whose wife died on the ship. While trying to help him recovering something from his trunk, she becomes aware of a secret his wife kept from him, but should she tell him about it?

In 2011 widow Taryn still feels the loss of her husband but a recent picture in the newspaper brings attention to her and to what really happened in the day he died...

I chose this book to read rather randomly, and mostly due to the cover, for it suited a topic in a challenge I'm doing. I had read another book by the author which had been praised by many readers but that to me wasn't as marvelous. I hoped a different book might impress me more, but it really seems that the author's style doesn't change from book to book, independently of the story being told.

Comparing the two books now, I can say the writing style is concise and fluid but without matching emotional punch. Things are well written, the characters say and think things that are meant to be emotionally strong but I didn't really feel it. I will say what I said about the other book too, that the author doesn't rick enough in her writing to accentuate passion and intensity in what is happening. Everything ends up being quite bland and one could see how it might be more.

This book follows two narratives, which are connected through a scarf with marigolds, a belonging of Lily, Andrew's wife, and which Taryn in 2011 recovers. The point of the story is for us to see exactly how the scarf went from one place in 1911 to another in 2011. The whole plot and the main connections between the two narratives seemed good enough for me.

My favorite part was the historical one, focused on Clara,which clearly is what the author felt like too, since this is the part that takes longer to be developed. I liked Clara and her sense of duty in the island, doing her part to help these people who come for their dream. I admit I was quite taken by her story and her attempt to help Andrew and what that meant for her interactions with those who worked with her. It was also interesting to see the personal weight the death of her sweetheart had on her, to the point it felt she could not leave the island on her own,such was the trauma.

All the elements connected to Clara and what she does as the new situations pile up felt interesting and did motivate me to keep reading, but I must say that the end was a little convoluted and things didn't exactly go the way I imagined. I don't dislike the end, but,again, I think the author could have been more daring instead of just doing what was easier.

The connection to the contemporary 2011 narrative wasn't that much of a deal, it turns out, and I think this section with Taryn was actually unnecessary. Nothing really important happens in this section to validate/reinforce what we learned in the past and regarding the importance of the scarf. I mean... sadly, I think this 2011 section was only convenient to highlight one more sad event about Taryn and how she lost her husband.

All things considered, this was a good story but didn't go beyond that and it totally could have. Perhaps I'll read more by the author but now my expectations are going to be more specific.

Grade: 6/10

Susan Meissner - The Nature of Fragile Things

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.

Comment: I've added this one to my TBR after reading some positive comments somewhere. But I must have inferred some kind of vibe from that and, along with the blurb, I made assumptions. I agree the story is fascinating but it didn't go the path I imagined (historical fiction with some romance even if secondary).

In this book we meet Sophie Whalen, a young woman, from Irish origins, now another one of the many emigrants in New York. When a chance advertisement requesting a mail order bride comes her way, she decides to take a rick and replies. The day she finally meets her groom Martin, they are married and she is eager to start her new life, as well as being a other to Kat, Martin's five year old daughter. They agree on taking things slowly in their marriage but while Sophie quickly gets used to her routines, if not her slight loneliness, she starts being curious about Martin's weird behavior. Then, one day, a stranger arrives at her door and everything changes...

This was a very intriguing novel, with mystery and a certain doom vibe, as if something could go wrong at any time. I think the set up and the slow pace at first really made for a curious reading because one gets aware something will happen at some point, especially considering the story starts with Sophie being interviewed by a US Marshal, so we know something must have happened. However, the tone of the book felt rather flat to me: this vibe of something to happen goes on, even when we learn about secrets, and the end didn't win me over.

I must say my expectations weren't right, I must have read the blurb wrong because I thought the story would be way more focused on the "mail order bride" idea and perhaps a possible romance somehow. I thought the story would be about Sophie adjusting to her new marriage or, I also imagined this might fail, how would she be a mother to Kat and eventually meet someone else while dealing with her past and loss or whatever. I mean, I confess I create this whole plot in my head and, it turned out, this book was nothing alike any of my ideas. This is the first book I try by the author so I had no idea of her style, but I see now that the focus is definitely more on the plot's tone rather than the character's path.

Once I regulated my expectations that this would not have romance content, I was able to savor the story more but, again, an issue for me: the story is narrated by Sophie, we are told she has secrets which we don't know right away, just a clue here, a clue there, but her "voice" is very monotone. I see some readers praising her value and dedication and efforts and so on, but once we learn all there is to know about Sophie, while I can respect her decisions, after what happened to her, I still didn't consider her to be such a likable character. Her personality just didn't read as approachable to me, no matter her actions and words.

I also think the plot's structure wasn't the best choice. We get to know/guess the big mystery early on and what happens after, especially related to the earthquake, while historically interesting, didn't convince me of the supposed need to rush over certain situations. Things happened and were written in a way I would feel sympathetic to the characters and what they faced, but to be fair I was still a little stuck on the mystery's reveal and how things played out. I thought the whole plot, in its attempt to keep up the suspense vibe (and failing after a certain point) just lost steam and when we finally reach the part of the story at the end, where we learn about Sophie's secrets, I admit I was ready to have this story finished.

I can understand why so many readers loved this one but to me this was a missed opportunity for something great. I feel the author didn't risk enough, or to make this a heartfelt historical romance or an unputdownable suspense plot, but the mix of the two, historical fiction and suspense just didn't convince me. Plus, since Sophie's voice was so steady I didn't feel the story really played with my emotions and I felt pretty much the same throughout the read, things weren't done with enough emotion, making this a well written story but not truly engaging to me.

Between my own failed and unfair expectations, it's true, and the lack of emotions I thought would be key in this book, the story just didn't work out for me as it was intended. It's correct, has the necessary elements but the execution truly disappointed me. I will try something else by the author one day to compare, but right now I feel a little discouraged.

Grade: 6/10