A Fall Of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

A Fall of Marigolds

by

Susan Meissner

This book contained all sorts of things that appealed to me.  It is a fiction story about a young nurse that witnesses the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in NYC and watches a friend leap to his death unable to help him and a young woman who is late to meet her husband at  Windows on the World the morning of 911 and is widowed as a result.  Both women have extreme survivors guilt.  The author uses the same antique scarf in the possession of both women to tie the story together.  The scarf is covered by cascading marigolds.    The modern day woman works in a fabric store and the concept of fabric and patterns is woven throughout her story.   The nurse from the early 1900's obtains a job at Ellis Island to escape from memories of the fire.  I listened to the book on audio.  I neglected to notice that it was a product by Christian Audio or,  not wanting to be preached at,  I most likely would not have selected it.  But I was pleased in that it was not a preachy book.  It was a clean book as far as its language and the behavior of the women involved, and at the end the author did express her opinion about the importance of romantic love in a person's life.  I do not agree with the author's conclusions.  Certainly we all need love in our lives but every one does not need romantic love to feel fulfilled.  Despite this disagreement with the author I recommend this book.  Some of the reviews criticize the book for being too dramatic.  I think the experiences the women had were very dramatic.  Other reviews criticized the nurse's described behavior in the book.  I think her hysteria was period appropriate.  That is how a woman would have reacted back then to that type of tragedy.  She showed strength to be able to eventually move beyond it.  Since the fabric expert was more functional I think the author was portraying the way women from each time period would have reacted.  This book is not going to be a classic and I would consider it under the topic of romance or chick lit so it is not the type of book I would normally read.  Nevertheless  I did enjoy it and would encourage those that like this venue to read it.  There is a lot in the book that book groups could discuss.  A portion of the proceeds from the book are donated to Save Ellis Island which you can read about by clicking HERE.  Please click on the author's name and book title at the beginning to follow the links to more information and enjoy the video that follows.