Secrets of a Charmed Life
Susan Meissner, 2015
Penguin Books
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451419927
Summary
During World War II England, two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime.
She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only one—because it was all she really wanted to see...
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. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 9, 1961
• Where—San Diego, California, USA
• Education—Point Loma Nazarene University
• Currently—lives in San Diego, California
Susan Meissner is an American writer born and raised in San Diego, California. She began her literary career at the age of eight and since then has published more than a dozen novels (though that part came a bit later in her life).
Early years and career
Susan attended Point Loma Nazarene University, married a U.S. Air Force man, raised four children, and spent five years overseas and several more in Minnesota. Those were the years she put her novel-writing itch on hold. In 1995, however, she took a part-time reporting job at her county newspaper, became a columnist three years later, and eventually editor of a local weekly paper. One of the things she is most proud of that her paper was named the Best Weekly Paper in Minnesota in 2002.
That was the same year Susan's latent novel-writing itch resurfaced, and she began working on her first novel, Why the Sky is Blue. In a little more than a year, the book was written, published, and in the bookstores. She's been noveling ever since—with a string of 12 books under her name. Historical Fiction is one of her favorite genres.
Booklist placed A Fall of Marigolds on its "Top Ten" list of women's fiction for 2014. In 2008, Publishers Weekly named The Shape of Mercy as one of the year's 100 Best Novels.
Personal
Susan lives with her husband and four children in San Diego where her husband is a pastor and Air Force Reserves chaplain. She teaches in writing workshops. In addition to writing books, she enjoys spending time with her family, making and listening to music, reading, and traveling. (Based on the author's website.)
Books
2016 - Stars Over Sunset Boulevard
2015 - Secrets of a Charmed Life
2014 - A Fall of Marigolds
2013 - The Girl in the Glass
2011 - A Sound Among the Trees
2010 - Lady in Waiting
2009 - White Picket Fences
2008 - The Shape of Mercy
2008 - Blue Heart Blessed
2006 - A Seahorse in the Thames
2006 - In All Deep Places
2005 - The Remedy for Regret
2003 - Why the Sky is Blue
Book Reviews
[A] young history student hop[es] to interview a survivor of the Blitz.... Despite some structural awkwardness...[the] novel is rich with vividly drawn characters, places, and events, and its themes of reinvention and redemption will strike a chord with readers. —Quinn, Mary Ellen
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. What did you enjoy most about Secrets of a Charmed Life? What do you think will stay with you?
2. Would you describe Secrets of a Charmed Life as a story about sisters or a story about mothers and daughters?
3. Discuss the secrets that the characters keep from one another. What facts does Annie hide from her daughters and why? What do Emmy and Julia not tell the men they eventually marry? What secret does Charlotte keep? How do these secrets impact the characters’ lives? Are there other secrets in the book?
4. How is this book different than other books you’ve read about World War 2?
5. Describing Emmy, the author wrote, “She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only the one—because it was all she really wanted to see.” Has there ever been a time when you couldn’t see the choices open to you until much later?
6. Later in her life, Julia writes in her journal: “Fear does not start to fade until you take the step that you think you can’t.” Do you agree? What was Julia afraid of when she wrote this?
7. How similar or dissimilar were Emmy and her mother? Did Emmy have an accurate view of the kind of person her mother was?
8. Isabel tells Kendra that there are no secrets to charmed life. There is only the task of forgiving ourselves for only being able to make our own choices, and no one else’s? What do you think she meant by this?
9. What did the sketches of brides’ dresses represent to Emmy?
10. What were Emmy’s reasons for choosing to remain Isabel throughout her adult life? Would you have done the same?
11. On one level, the novel is about losing something very precious. What’s the most precious thing you’ve ever lost? What were the consequences?
12. Have you ever lived through a time of war or social chaos, even to a small degree? How does your experience compare with what Emmy and Julia went through?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)