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 from Iowa—aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two … U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.
The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.
But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.
The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.
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Another aspect of history I learned about through this story!
The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner was a very emotional book for me. I love Historical Fiction and this book was right up my alley. I am German and both my parents lived through the War in Germany, and this book just followed up with exactly the same story as my parents told me. I had no idea what was happening in the US during the war. The book was well written and researched. I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it the all Historical Fiction Fans.
Every story I read by this author is amazing. This story touched my heart and brought me to tears at times. I learned information about internment camps in Texas and so much more. Susan Meissner has a way of bringing a story to life and making the reader feel close to the characters. A beautiful, heartwarming and heartbreaking story. Bring the tissues.
Great subject matter, but a slow read.
Elise Sontag is a 14 year old girl living in Iowa. Her German father is arrested for being a Nazi sympathizer and sent to an internment camp in Texas. Elise Sontag, her brother and mother later join him at the camp. Elise becomes friends with Mariko, a Japanese American from Los Angeles. When Elise and her family are sent back to Germany in exchange for American prisoners Elise faces the real challenges of the war.
Last Year of the War is one of the best historical fiction books I have read. You know a book is good when you Google search for more information like I did for the German and Japanese interment camps. Susan Meissner did her homework when writing this book. The characters are interesting and well developed and I was emotional reading this book. A must read especially if you love historical fiction. Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and the publisher for giving me an ARC of the book and this is my honest review.
We often mention the Detention camps for Japanese American citizens. But it’s rare to hear about detention of German American citizens. This book tells us both from the eyes of two children, on Japanese American; the other an American child with her German American families. I loved the book and would love to read more, written by wives and/or children. Could this happen again? A MUST READ!
A friendship made in an internment camp during WWII that lasted only eighteen months, but bonds and memories that lasted a lifetime.
Elise and Mariko met during WWII while attending school in an internment camp for Japanese and German Americans.
We follow both girls through their eighteen months in the camp as well as after even though the friends never saw each other again until they were older adults. They tried to connect with each other, but they never were able to.
At this time in their lives, Elise was suffering from dementia, and she found out Mariko was dying from stage four breast cancer.
Even though Elise had trouble remembering things, she remembered enough to find Mariko, to get on a plane, and to find her before they both were no longer alive.
THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR is a marvelous history lesson and a testament to enduring friendship and learning lessons and making decisions.
The subject matter wasn’t light, but it was wonderful learning more about this time in history. I actually wasn’t aware of all that happened. It is very obvious that Ms. Meissner did extensive research and perfectly fit the facts into her book.
If you enjoy historical fiction and Ms. Meissner’s books, you will want to make room on your bookshelf for THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR.
As all of her books, the beautiful flow of Ms. Meissner’s writing and her attention to detail make the book a treat to read. 5/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The unforgettable, shocking story of two young American girls and how their lives and the lives of their families are affected by World War II. The Last Year of the War tells the story of internment camps in the USA. A very eye-opening gripping story of friendship, good and evil and love and loss. One of my picks for the best books of 2018. Highly recommend to all interested in historical fiction and especially American history.
An unexpectedly beautiful historical fiction novel set mainly during the final years of World War II and that focuses a spotlight on a more shameful and less talked about piece of United States history from the perspective of a teenage girl who was born in the US to German immigrant parents. When they are sent to an internment camp in Texas, Elise struggles to find her place as a typical American at the internment camp that is home to not only German detainees, but also a large contingent of Japanese detainees. When Elise meets Mariko, a Japanese-American teen, she finds someone who is navigating the same issues and they are instantly inseparable until both families are repatriated. Elise and Mariko had dreams and plans, and being separated wasn’t going to change them. Elise is determined to make it through the horrors of war-torn Germany and return to the country of her birth and find her best friend.
This was an extremely well-researched novel, and I enjoyed how the author took the reader on Elise’s journey. The details, descriptions, and emotions were, I think, even more effective as experienced from Elise’s point of view. A teenager already has so many issues while searching for their identity; I can’t imagine dealing with the additional ones Elise faced with the war and her family’s ethnicity and the path they were forced to take.
This was my first time reading a novel by Susan Meissner. I enjoyed the story, her writing style, and the way she developed her characters in the story. It was also interesting to learn more about parts of history that aren’t as well-known. If you enjoy historical fiction, I definitely recommend picking up this novel.
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I am a WWII fan. I love the era, I love the heroes, and I love learning about life in the USA during the way. With The Last Year of the War I learn about the internment camps and then I got the bonus of learning about life in Germany as a US citizen while the war was still going on.
Elise Sontag is a wonderful character. Even as a child she had such great insight into what was going on in the world. She saw more than she should have, lived a tougher life that she deserved, and still managed to thrive in a time when nothing was easy. When her life was uprooted she stayed strong for a mother who was not able to, cared for her brother, and did her best to keep life happy and easy for her family. She quickly made friends with a Japanese-American, Mariko Inoue, which was unique since most children in the internment camp stayed with “their own kinds”. I found it interested how much the girls had in common, how much they enjoyed each other’s company, all while having such a different upbringing. It showed how much a teenage girl has in common with other teenage girls, no matter what their backgrounds are.
The Last Year of the War is an amazing historical fiction book. It is the perfect WWII story, with the telling of life in internment camps, life in Germany during the war, and how life after the war was over was still affected by what happened during the war. It is powerful, it is emotional, and it is an incredible journey.
A beautiful story of frienship, war, lost and finding wings to fly free. I love historical fiction and learning new things. I knew about the internment camps in the U.S. What I did not know was that Germans were sent there along with people sent to the U.S.from other countries. This story was well researched and beautifully written. Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy.
Powerful and at times chillingly contemporary, and it reminds us why we read historical fiction in the first place.
Set against the American and German front, Susan Meissner’s newest novel The Last Year of the War focuses on a little teenage girl as she experiences prejudice and hate because of her heritage. I have read plenty of novels that feature World War II, but majority of them focus on the German’s reign across Europe and through London, so it was nice to actually see what the Americans were doing at the same time. The Last Year of the War is an original story with a frame narrative told as a flashback of an older woman experiencing Alzheimer’s. For readers who usually stay away from World War II fiction because of all the violence, there really isn’t much in this book. We understand the world from a fifteen-year-old who feels trapped and betrayed. Even though the story was different, there were moments, I felt like the story just kept going and going. When was it going to end? Then it sped up, and there wasn’t many pages left in the novel. The meeting between the heroine and her friend seemed a major disappointment too. (It could be just me.) The romance wasn’t really an plot point either. Overall, The Last Year of the War was a nice change to focus on for World War II, so I learned more about the war. But would I pick it up again and read it? Probably. It was entertaining enough for a second pass through.
I received a complimentary copy of The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner from Berkley Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.
I hope my review can do this book justice. This is an exquisitely written portrayal of life for 14 year old Elise, an American born German during World War II. At age 14 she is sent with her family to Crystal City, an internment camp in Texas. It is here that she meets Mariko, a Japanese American girl and they become friends. Soon they are sent back to Germany and Japan. They would not see each other again for over sixty years. This is Elise’s story. I love how this book incorporated factual information with fiction. It gives the book so much depth. I was transported into her life. I felt her fear and saw her strength. She takes us into war torn Germany and you are there with her. I could see the bombed out buildings. This is storytelling at its finest. Any book that can take me into its pages and keep me transfixed like this book did deserves way more than 5 stars. This is one of those books. The characters are incredibly well developed and relatable. It flows effortlessly throughout. All I can say is read this book! I cannot recommend it enough. If you are a historical fiction fan, like myself, you don’t want to miss this one. Absolutely mesmerizing story!
The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner is a passionate study on humankind’s ability to endure and hope and dream during times of uncertainty, loss, and deprivation. The entire story is told through the adolescent Elise Sontag, predominantly at the end of WWII and just beyond; however, each of the four parts of the book begin with the older and ailing Elise on a final quest to reawaken a dormant friendship formed over her 18 months in the internment camp during the last year of the war.
Both Elise and Mariko were born on US soil to parents from Germany and Japan, respectively. The friendship is instant for these two young girls, but their synced moments are fleeting because in the grotesque reality of internment camps, families were often forced to repatriate to their countries of origin. Nothing is fair, and the only beauty in such an unfair place and time is honest and unconditional friendship.
Susan Meissner’s writing is musical in its composition of heartache, hardship, and harrowing experiences throughout the story, especially when Elise is separated from Mariko and sent to war-torn Germany with her family. But these girls naively plan to reunite after the war and live their dreams together in Manhattan. Unfortunately, sometimes choices are made for us, and sometimes we choose to shatter the dream.
The Last Year of the War is about identity, family, loyalty, friendship, hopes and dreams, guilt and shame, freedom, and home. All of these merge together to form a story that will break your heart but also cause you to reevaluate your own friendships and family dynamics as well as your paths taken and not taken. There is never enough time in our brief lives, but The Last Year of the War reminds us that the time is now to embrace family, find lost friends, and live our best life, despite cruel wars and regretful choices.
An added gem in The Last Year of the War is the story Mariko is writing when she meets Elise at the internment camp. After they are separated, Mariko entrusts Elise to finish the story, but Elise is not the writer of the duo, so she keeps the notebook safe for when they meet again. The fictional Calista is stuck in a tower, and the two girls contemplate on the many ways to set her free. This unfinished fable embodies the entire ambience of Susan Meissner’s touching story. Elise and Mariko’s friendship is stuck in time, waiting for the chance to be set free on the wings of love and understanding, waiting for that moment when the two friends can finish their story together.
The tears will flow as you read this lovely story, but those tears are not always sad ones. While war kills, wreaks havoc, and separates, it is the everlasting promise that hope will shine once again amidst the despair and destruction that will move you to tears and push you to embrace your own life, family, and friends.
The Last Year of the War is an amazing story which taught me a bit about US history that I knew little or nothing about. I knew of the Japanese people being moved to internment camps during the war but was unaware that Germans were as well. Susan takes that bit of history and weaves a beautiful tale of two girls from different backgrounds, who become life-long friends while living in the camp.
Circumstances pulled them in different directions but the friendship bond remained even though they didn’t see or hear from each other for years. Life was hard for Elise and Mariko as they grew into womanhood, surviving the war the best way that they could.
This is a wonderful story—a story that was kind of hard to read sometimes as their lives got hard. This tale drew me in from the very start as I fell in love with these two girls and as I watched their friendship and lives unfold.
For several years my husband’s department secretary was a Japanese American who came of age in a WWII internment camp. Her stories were the first I had encountered. Later I learned that German Americans were also identified as suspect hostile aliens and sent to internment camps. But before reading The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner I had not heard of the repatriation program, exchanging interned families for POWs held by Germany and Japan.
The Last Year of the War is Elise’s life story. Her parents were born in Germany and love their homeland but embraced America wholeheartedly. Elise is a typical American girl.
Mariko is another American born child of immigrant parents. Her Japanese parents have held to their heritage and identity.
Circumstantial evidence flag their fathers as potential alien enemies, their goods and money confiscated, and the fathers interned. At Crystal City their families can join them, but with the agreement that they may be repatriated to their homelands.
Elise is lost and angry until she meets Mariko. They bond and become best friends, sharing dreams of turning eighteen and moving to New York City together to pursue careers.
Through these sympathetic characters, readers learn about life at the internment camps, and, when Elise’s family is sent to Germany, life in war-torn Germany.
Elise struggles with being an American in the land of her enemies, while to her parents it is their homeland. Mariko’s America dreams are shattered by her traditional parents’ expectations.
Readers of Historical Fiction will love this book. I commend Meissner for bringing this aspect of American history to light, especially in the context of America’s current distrust of immigrants.
Meissner sidesteps vilification of the German people, noting that Elise’s German family were required to hang a portrait of Adolph Hitler on the wall and describing the destruction of German cities and civilian losses and hardships. The perils of war are addressed, including the harassment and rape of German girls by the occupation army after the war.
Elise does find her place in the world, not the life she dreamt of as a teenager, and she finds love.
I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Susan Meissner’s newest book is about a German American teen girl who meets her best friend in an internment camp during World War II. We meet present day Elise Sontag Dove as an elderly lady who is battling Alzheimer’s. She is determined to find her old friend Japanese American Mariko Inoue. The story then flashes back to 1943 when in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor Elise’s father is labeled a Nazi sympathizer and her whole family is forced into an internment camp in Texas. Elise is alone and bored until she meets Mariko. After 18 months in the camp, the girls are suddenly torn apart as their parents are repatriated. While Elise was born in the US and doesn’t even speak the German language, her parents were German immigrants. Elise and her family are shipped off to Germany in the last year of the war where they come face to face with the struggle to survive alongside other Germans who are continuing to face food shortages, bombings, destruction and death. Through all this turmoil, Elise hangs on to the dreams she and Mariko had as 18-year-olds to eventually move to New York City together to pursue careers.
But while Elise and Mariko’s friendship is a big part of the story, it is not the primary storyline. That honor belongs to Elise who narrates the book and took me along on her journey as she sadly lost everything, as she painfully matured, and as she decisively took control of her life in an effort to regain what had been taken from her. I loved Elise as she was strong, independent, adaptable, level headed, and loyal.
This beautifully written story is about forever friendships, family bonds, adaptability, bravery, determination and even a little romance. But it also contains great historical information about the internment camps and the families forced into them and about the repatriation program, exchanging interned families for POWs held in Germany and Japan.
I cannot adequately say how much I loved this book. Susan Meissner absolutely brings absolutely crafts vivid characters that spring off the page. I felt like I knew them personally by the end of the book. I cannot imagine the research that went into this book, but it was so well done and intertwined into a realistic and heartbreaking at times story. The realities of war are brought home in a way that is devastating yet inspiring as well.
When a book manages to not only pull me in, but also teach me something about history that checks all the boxes. I did know about the Japanese internment camps, but I had no idea that Germans were held there. Something else I didn’t know was that some of the people kept there were shipped back to their original counties even though they had spent many years in the United States.
I enjoyed this book so much. If the genre of World War 2 Historical Fiction interests you, I highly recommend you pick up this well written gem.
Meissner set a comfortable pace in this book, switching from present day Elise to her younger self smoothly. I came away from this book feeling like I watched an interesting documentary containing a different perspective of WWII. I was really looking forward to this book giving a deeper glimpse into what day to day life would be like. While I didn’t get that, Meissner did a commendable job with the Sontag family’s repatriation. It is easy to lapse into painting all Germans of the time with the same brush. The German side of Elise’s family’s small acts of defiance made my heartache for the ordinary people caught in the crossfire.
Books that cover a character’s entire lifetime can be difficult to craft. WWII is such a vast topic and this book contains a wealth of information but I still felt like I only received a brief glimpse. I wish we had spent more time with Elise and Mariko in the internment camps before getting to the repatriation. The time they spent together in the internment camp felt a little like a spark notes edition. Elise was heartbroken when they were torn apart but I don’t have any specific moments to reflect the deep connection they had.
I enjoyed the book and will recommend it to others that enjoy the genre, I just wish I had a chance to watch the “unlikely” friendship between these characters rather than be told. Even the long-awaited meeting felt like it was overshadowed by just Elise.
**I received an advanced copy from the publisher; all opinions are my own.