Only the Beautiful

I love Susan Meissner and her work. This story unfolds in two threads: in 1938 California, a 16-year-old named Rosie is orphaned and subsequently taken in by the owners of the vineyard where her father worked. The circumstances by which she ends up pregnant are ugly, but she loves the idea of having a child and doesn't protest when she's sent to the home for unwed mothers. But that's <em>not</em> where she's sent: because of her misunderstood synesthesia, she's sent against her will to a hospital for the mentally infirm; she will not be allowed to keep her baby, nor will she be able to have children in the future. Meanwhile in 1940s Austria, Helen, the sister of the vineyard owner, who knew Rosie when she was young, has been working for years as a nanny and witnesses firsthand the brutal impacts of the Nazi regime. When Helen finally returns home in 1947, she is shocked to learn what's become of Rosie, and why. I raced through the story so I could learn how Helen and Rosie's threads would finally converge and it was so satisfying when they did. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, narrated by Xe Sands and Jorjeana Marie.