March 12, 2019

Review: Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner





Product Description:
Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden—one that will test her convictions and her heart.

1940s, England. As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London’s civilian population, hundreds of thousands of children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for her sister’s presence. Acting at cross purposes just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction, the sisters are cruelly separated, and their lives are transformed...


My Thoughts:
Secrets of a Charmed Life has now become my favorite book of 2019. It is an amazing suspense story. It reminds me a little of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford in that I kept wanting to jump to the end of the book to check if everything works out in the end. 

Two sisters separated by war in a story told over a current day's afternoon. I really couldn't get through the book fast enough. Truly wonderful.

My Recommendation:
I recommend this one to anyone who loves historical fiction.