Only The Beautiful

Poignant and thought-provoking, this historical fiction novel follows two women - Rosie, an orphaned teen in 1938 who has a special skill and middle-aged Helen in post-WWII who returns to the US after decades living abroad in Europe.

1938 - Teenage Rosie Maras' loses her whole family but is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where her parents worked. When she becomes pregnant, 17-year-old Rosie is sent away, but what Rosie assumes will be a home for unwed teen mothers is far from it. With Rosie's unique ability to see colours when she hears sounds (synesthesia), she is used as a test subject by the doctors who are meant to help her, and readers learn that eugenics was not only happening under Hitler's agenda but also occurring in the USA to breed out 'abnormalities'. 

1947 - Helen Culvert has been in Europe for decades and returns to the USA to uncover what happened to young Rosie, the ward of her brother and sister-in-law. Through her research and findings, readers are privy to sensitive topics surrounding the lack of women's rights, archaic forms of mental health practices and the use of eugenics.

These dual timelines were well-balanced, equally compelling and despite some heavy topics, the book is about resiliency and hope. This was a well-researched about interesting characters with compelling stories. It was my first book by Susan Meissner but will not be my last.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Author: Susan Meissner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Type and Source: ebook from public library

Publisher: Berkley

First Published: April 18, 2023

Read: Feb 21 - 27, 2025

Book Description from GoodReads: California, 1938 - When she loses her parents in an accident, sixteen-year-old Rosanne is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where she has lived her whole life as the vinedresser's daughter. She moves into Celine and Truman Calvert's spacious house with a secret, however-Rosie sees colors when she hears sound. She promised her mother she'd never reveal her little-understood ability to anyone, but the weight of her isolation and grief proves too much for her. 

Driven by her loneliness, she not only breaks the vow to her mother, but in a desperate moment lets down her guard and ends up pregnant. Banished by the Calverts, Rosanne believes she is bound for a home for unwed mothers, and having lost her family, she treasures her pregnancy as the chance for a future one. But she soon finds out she is not going to a home of any kind, but to a place far worse than anything she could have imagined. 

Austria, 1947 - After witnessing firsthand Adolf Hitler's brutal pursuit of hereditary purity-especially with regard to "different children"-Helen Calvert is ready to return to America for good. But when she arrives at her brother's peaceful vineyard after decades working abroad, she is shocked to learn what really happened nine years earlier to the vinedresser's daughter, a girl whom Helen had long ago befriended. In her determination to find Rosanne, Helen discovers that while the war was won in Europe, there are still terrifying battles to be fought at home"--