The Last Year of the War

by Susan Meissner

Description

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.
 
Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943--aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal 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.

Biography

I cannot remember a time when I wasn't driven to write. I attribute this passion to a creative God and to parents who love books and more particularly to a dad who majored in English and passed on a passion for writing.

I was born in 1961 in San Diego, California, and am the second of three daughters. I spent my very average childhood in just two houses. I attended Point Loma College in San Diego, majoring in education, but I would have been smarter to major in English with a concentration in writing. The advice I give now to anyone wondering what to major in is follow your heart and choose a vocation you are already in love with.

My Perspective ~

Told in the first person by Elise as an elderly woman, this is a detailed account of her life, time spent in an internment camp as a teen, subsequent time in war torn Germany, and her eventual transition back to America. Friendship is her most costly possession. An educational journey through Elise's formative years is accomplished through great detail. Much research is obvious by the information conveyed regarding the internment camps of WWII, and life in war torn Germany at that time. 

The family unit and respective cultural differences are strong points in this heart wrenching tale. Hard lessons are learned as cultural influences force the suppression of the desires of the heart. Characters are well defined, and the intimacy of family and friends is poignant. This is a wonderful reading experience for both adults and young adults alike. The development of Elise's character throughout her formative years is well done and admirable. This is an emotion packed journey.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book. All expressed opinions are my own.