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A review by michellewatson
Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
5.0
Where has Susan Meissner been all my life? This is the second book by her that I've read, and it's the second time she's brought me to tears (which honestly doesn't happen all that often for me in books). This is a novel about two young sisters caught in the London blitz during WW2 and how their decisions during that crazy time shaped the next two decades of their lives.
Honestly, reading this during the coronavirus pandemic has been especially interesting — maybe that's why I cried. It's a crazy time right now, too, and we're trying to carry on with some semblance of life as best we can, and many are grieving the loss of loved ones, and we seem to hear of new losses every day. We're faced with unfamiliar choices, and we have to do the best with what we know in this moment, and that's a lot of what this book is about.
I like how Meissner's novels convey a strong sense of theme. The theme in this one begins with the title — is there such a thing as a charmed life, and is there an actual path that leads to such a happy-ever-after? Or are there breadcrumbs (secrets) that will lead us to happiness if we can only find them? This is something that I think many people can connect with, especially young people who are just starting out in life. How do I get the kind of life I dream about?
Some of the other thematic questions that I grappled with while reading this:
1. What's really important in life and how does our answer to this question change over time? How do the characters come to realize what's truly important?
2. What is it that we, as humans, really want out of life in order to achieve a sense of wholeness and spiritual fulfillment?
3. When people are forced to make decisions under pressure or emotional stress, what can happen?
4. What do we do with intense guilt and regret? How do we find healing when we are "reeling from the choices made in weakness"?
5. What are the perils of keeping secrets?
The first chapter of the novel captured me — the last sentence, so fun. The story was, in a sense, a puzzle to be solved (but not a mystery). It's what happens when a bomb blows a family to bits, and each member is scattered somewhere different. Catastrophes leave holes, and some can be mended and others cannot. Can the blown-away bits crawl back together? That's the puzzle.
I thought the writing was great, not overly sentimental, not trying too hard. I'm not a huge fan of the contemporary frame device (an elderly Isabel is telling her story to a young history major who must write a paper on the blitz that includes an interview, and that's the frame for the story) but it didn't harm the telling, even though it's not my fave. I liked how the novel fit into three distinct parts, and I thought it was interesting how Part 3 is actually a journal. Epistolary novels get old for me after a while (Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, please don't hate me) but confining the letters to just one part of the novel felt OK.
Meissner grounds her novels in fertile Christian soil, but this book is not overtly Christian nor the least bit preachy. This makes it a wonderful book recommendation for anyone, from college grad to grandma. The book deals with some scandalous things, I guess, but it never feels slimy.
Quotes I liked a lot:
"I know what it's like to have other people stand around staring at you when they could just as easily help you."
"This was how people balanced the scales their world was tipping, Emmy reasoned. It was only after time had passed that a person was able to see whether she might have been able to bear the load she was sure had been too heavy. But life is lived in the moment you are living it, she thought. No one but God in heaven has the benefit of seeing beyond today."
"Safe is not the same thing as happy."
"Fear does not start to fade until you take the step that you think you can't."
"Truth is a strange companion. It devastates one moment and enthralls the next. But it never deceives. And because of that, in the end, it comforts."
"They were both starving for love and affirmation. When you are hungry for something, you often do not use your best judgement."
Honestly, reading this during the coronavirus pandemic has been especially interesting — maybe that's why I cried. It's a crazy time right now, too, and we're trying to carry on with some semblance of life as best we can, and many are grieving the loss of loved ones, and we seem to hear of new losses every day. We're faced with unfamiliar choices, and we have to do the best with what we know in this moment, and that's a lot of what this book is about.
I like how Meissner's novels convey a strong sense of theme. The theme in this one begins with the title — is there such a thing as a charmed life, and is there an actual path that leads to such a happy-ever-after? Or are there breadcrumbs (secrets) that will lead us to happiness if we can only find them? This is something that I think many people can connect with, especially young people who are just starting out in life. How do I get the kind of life I dream about?
Some of the other thematic questions that I grappled with while reading this:
1. What's really important in life and how does our answer to this question change over time? How do the characters come to realize what's truly important?
2. What is it that we, as humans, really want out of life in order to achieve a sense of wholeness and spiritual fulfillment?
3. When people are forced to make decisions under pressure or emotional stress, what can happen?
4. What do we do with intense guilt and regret? How do we find healing when we are "reeling from the choices made in weakness"?
5. What are the perils of keeping secrets?
The first chapter of the novel captured me — the last sentence, so fun. The story was, in a sense, a puzzle to be solved (but not a mystery). It's what happens when a bomb blows a family to bits, and each member is scattered somewhere different. Catastrophes leave holes, and some can be mended and others cannot. Can the blown-away bits crawl back together? That's the puzzle.
I thought the writing was great, not overly sentimental, not trying too hard. I'm not a huge fan of the contemporary frame device (an elderly Isabel is telling her story to a young history major who must write a paper on the blitz that includes an interview, and that's the frame for the story) but it didn't harm the telling, even though it's not my fave. I liked how the novel fit into three distinct parts, and I thought it was interesting how Part 3 is actually a journal. Epistolary novels get old for me after a while (Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, please don't hate me) but confining the letters to just one part of the novel felt OK.
Meissner grounds her novels in fertile Christian soil, but this book is not overtly Christian nor the least bit preachy. This makes it a wonderful book recommendation for anyone, from college grad to grandma. The book deals with some scandalous things, I guess, but it never feels slimy.
Quotes I liked a lot:
"I know what it's like to have other people stand around staring at you when they could just as easily help you."
"This was how people balanced the scales their world was tipping, Emmy reasoned. It was only after time had passed that a person was able to see whether she might have been able to bear the load she was sure had been too heavy. But life is lived in the moment you are living it, she thought. No one but God in heaven has the benefit of seeing beyond today."
"Safe is not the same thing as happy."
"Fear does not start to fade until you take the step that you think you can't."
"Truth is a strange companion. It devastates one moment and enthralls the next. But it never deceives. And because of that, in the end, it comforts."
"They were both starving for love and affirmation. When you are hungry for something, you often do not use your best judgement."