Book description
From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II.
In 1943, Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Last Year of the War as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Susan Meissner is my go-to for wonderfully deep characterization in time-slip novels. The Last Year of the War tells a much less familiar part of WWII, the horrifying way many German and Japanese Americans were interned in camps in Texas during the war years. Elise Sontag is a typical American teenager from Iowa who meets fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, at the camp. The story is filled with heartache and twists and turns and has a lovely present-day thread that delights and surprises.
As an author, I am often inspired when I stumble upon…
From Elizabeth's list on time-slip with present day and WWII protagonists.
Meissner is a master of balance, and this book does a beautiful job. A gut-wrenching story of discrimination, injustice, deprivation, and war woven into a story of childhood friends found in the unlikeliest of circumstances. We learn important lessons about historic mistakes, see the brutal face of war, and crawl inside family dynamics that leave a mark on our hearts.
From Elisa's list on strong WWII female characters who aren’t spies.
If you love The Last Year of the War...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
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