Heartbreaking, tragic and uplifting all at the same time. Pulled me in and kept my attention! Read this book!

This is a well researched book on a topic that little historical fiction is written about - internment camps. The two families in this story; one German and the other Japanese had lived in the U.S. for twenty years when WWII broke out and fear was rampant. Mariko and Elise, both teenagers met in an internment camp and vowed to remain friends after being sent back to their parent's native country. Recommended!

Susan Meissner is one of my must-read authors. While she writes historical fiction, she usually finds a way to bring the modern day into it. In this story, Elise, a woman recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's heads to Los Angeles to visit a girlhood friend, before her disease "Agnes" takes her memories completely.



The story flashes back to the years of WWII and shortly therafter. Elise and her family have been deported to an internment camp, where they are kept until arrangments can be made to send them back to Germany, where her parents were born. While there, she meets a Japanese-American girl, Mariko, from whom she is separated when Elise's family is sent to German in the waning days of WWII.



Of course the Germany to which they return is a bombed-out shell of the Germany her parents left all those years ago, and the bombing raids at the end of the war destroy even more. Then comes the occupation, which is not all candy and roses. Elise never feels at home in Germany and accepts a marriage proposal from a GI--a proposal they both know was made for the sole purpose of getting her back to the US. We follow her as she returns to a US that is different from the one she left and to a lifestyle that is defintely not what she is used to. Still, she manages to thrive.



In some ways this is one of those books where everything just wraps up too neatly. I liked Elise; she seemed real and ready to take advantage of opportunities presented with out coming across as a selfish person.



I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley. Grade: B+

I am a huge fan of Susan Meissner and this novel just solidifies my love for her writing. Elise is a character that you fall in love with and your heart hurts for her. All that she went through, you feel it while reading the story.
Love, hate, war, friendship and so much more create this story. The combination of past and present keep you involved with the character of Elise. I can’t say enough positive things about this novel. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to give an honest review in exchange for this digital copy. Thank you Susan Meissner once again for being the Queen of Historical Fiction.

If you enjoy historical fiction then this the book for you. It's style is to alternate between now and the past. Elise has the perfect life. She's in high school, has good friends and a loving family. Then Pearl Harbor is bombed and everything changes. Her father is arrested and everything goes downhill after that.
I really enjoyed this book and found Elise's life interesting. Our library will be buying this and recommending it to our patrons.

I received an ARC of this from Netgalley.

This book ended way too fast!!! I would have read 100 more pages with these characters. I loved the 2 main characters and their stories. I adored the plot!!! It was so interesting and unique - I didn’t want it to end. The only reasoning gave 4 stars is the ending felt so rushed!!! Like all of a sudden it was over and I wanted more. I wanted more time in this world with these characters which is a great sign of a great book!!

Susan Meissner tells a little known tale of the internment of German-Americans during WW II at Crystal City, TX where some Italians as well as Japanese are also interned. A story of friendship between Elise, an American teen of German parents and Mariko, an American teen of Japanese parents.
Elise is the narrator who in typical teen behavior is more interested in having a friend then in what is happening in the world. A friendship that is separated by parents and government and lost for years until Elise discovers an article that mentions Mariko is in the states. Elise who has Alzheimer's and wants to see Mariko before her alt-ego, Agnes, takes over in order to find out what happened to their promise to meet in NYC when they were 18. Definitely read this for the struggles and rewards of a teenager in the war.

This book just kept getting better and better. Susan Meissner creates characters I want to know more about and reveals historical information that is fascinating. I always learn from her books while becoming absorbed in places and times I might not experience otherwise. The richness of her writing draws me in, and the need to know how things turn out keeps me reading late into the night. The ending is satisfying without being unrealistic, another feature of her books that keeps me coming back for more.

This book was sent to me.
Read other Susan Meissner's books and I have enjoyed them all.
This is another good read by her.

The description piqued my interest, then I began reading
I became captivated immediately.
She is speaking of her Alzheimer's as she can't get rid of her sticky fingered house-guest.
Diagnosed with a fatal disease that will kill her eventually and she does feel sick
She names her Alzheimer's after a girl in Jr High School who stole things out of lockers.

Wanting to close chapters of her life before Alzheimer does.
Reflecting on decisions made - if chosen differently - the ripple effect.

She wants to visit a friend she lost contact with "The Year Before The War" when her family was sent to Crystal City Internment Camp and she made a friend who was also sent there because she was Japanese.
She discovers the friend has stage 4 Breast Cancer.
They were separated by years, by men and miles, by demands and forces outside of the two of them
They will join hands in the last great dance of life, Together.

Travel back in time, relive nightmares and celebrate accomplishments together.
You will feel like you are there. Being branded the enemy- feeling hungry, lonely, scared, and mad.

Every time I got the chance, even a few minutes, I was reading this book.
I became frustrated when I had to put it down and stop reading.
My heart broke and my heart rejoiced.

Thank you to NetGalley, and the publisher, for providing me this fantastic historical fiction novel!

I think we all learned a bit (or a lot) about internment camps during WWII from the book, HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET. However, I was clueless that German (and Italian) families were also interned, to a lesser degree than Japanese families.

This was another great book enlightening me about the camps, what it was like to live there during the war, and especially what it was like to live in Germany in the last year of WWII. The author did a fantastic job weaving the story of a young German teenager and young Japanese teenager forming a life-long friendship. How society, family, and the war tore them apart, but with determination, these women found their way back together.

It's a terrific story about WWII, the ability for humans to persevere, and the kindness of others to keep them working toward a better life.

Another fantastic read by Susan Meissner!!! The story is about a German-American girl who is sent to an internment camp in TX with her family and the friendship she had with a Japanese-American girl who was there too.

What I love about her books is that she takes something that happened in history, that usually isn’t written much about, and ties it to someone in modern times. I just love this approach so much.
Her characters are likable and you really care what happens to them.

And in this book you definitely care about Elise and what happens to her during the story.

Beautifully written piece of historical fiction which will move you as well as bring to light the internment camps for Japanese-Americans and German-Americans during World War II. Elise and her family are from a small town Davenport, Iowa until some rumors result in Elise, her brother,and her German born parents to be sent from their homes and sent to Crystal City, an internment camp. Elise befriends Mariko, a Japanese American teenager also in the camp. The story centers on Elise, what happens to her the last year of the war, through her journey until she ages and starts experiencing dementia. I cannot say enough about this book, and encourage all to read and learn lessons we need to remember today, while becoming immersed in the drama of real life.

I love this author's books! She writes characters that all developed significantly throughout the story, and this was no exception. Every character, EVERY single ONE matured fundamentally. At first I worried that the main character did not meet her best friend until a full 25% into the book, but looking back after finishing, it made sense; it was "The Last YEAR of the War," with references to much more than just their relationship. Their friendship was the catalyst for many of the choices they each made that affected their lives, but not the main point of the story. At times I worried about choices some characters seemed to be making, but the growth that came from those choices and the fall out were powerful. My kind of book.

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.

Elise and family are interned along with the Japanese during WWII. Despite having immigrated to the U.S. almost twenty years ago, the family is suspected of being Nazi sympathizer. At the camp, Elise meets Mariko, a Japanese-American teenager. They develop a quick bond and become best friends. Elise and her family are deported to Germany, where she lives for the last year of the war. Elise writes Mariko letters, but they are returned. An elderly Elise, suffering from the beginning stages of Alzheimers, does a google search and finds that Mariko has moved back to California.

I thought the early story of Elise was a pretty interesting one. I didn't particularly enjoy the story of elderly Elise. It seemed odd that a woman who lead such a rich life would be so focused on Mariko, when their relationship was such a flitting moment in her life. I will pick up the next book by this author, she is a great story teller.

Elise has decided she needs to find a friend from her childhood, Mariko, before she dies. They have not spoken since their world was shattered while still in their teens. They met at an internment camp during World War II and forged an unlikely friendship, Elise's family was German and Mariko's was Japanese and in the internment camp it was encouraged to stick to their own kind. They share their hopes and dreams, among which is to be an American. Both families are sent back to the country's of their origin before the war ends. Elise is determined to determined to return to her true home, the United States, even after they send her away. It is a story of dreams and acceptance and figuring out how to survive. It swept me up and broke my heart as these young girls are sent 'home' to a place where they had never been and didn't even speak the language.

This histoical novel draws the reader in, and holds thier attention to the final page. The story is well written and researched.

Lindas Book Obsession Reviews “The Last Year of the War” by Susan Meissner, Berkley, March 2019

WOW! WOW!WOW! Susan Meissner, Author of “The Last Year of the War” has written an amazing, unique, riveting, captivating, intense, heart-breaking, emotional and intriguing novel. Susan Meissner describes vividly the characters, events and landscape in a period in United States History that is often not openly discussed as it should be. The Genres of this Novel and Historical Fiction and Fiction. The story takes place during World War Two, mostly in the United States, but also takes place in Japan and Germany. The timeline goes to the past or future when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. The authors describe her characters as complex and complicated due to the circumstances in the story.

Elise Sontag is an American citizen of German Descent. She goes to school, and lives an American life. Elise doesn’t speak German. When the war breaks out, her German father, a legal United States resident is arrested. and regarded as a spy. He is eventually sent with the rest of the family to Crystal City Internment Camp in Texas. Elise meets a special friend Mariko Inoue, a Japanese American teen who also is in the Internment Camp. Mariko writes a story and wants Elise to help her find an ending.

I appreciate the hours of research that Susan Meissner has done to tell this story. Can you imagine two American teenagers imprisoned because of their backgrounds in the war? Although there was shopping , stores, schools and hospitals, the camp was surrounded by barbed wire.

In the last year of the war, many of the German and Japanese families that were held in the camp, were sent back to Japan and Germany. Germany was being bombed by the Allies, and Elise is at a loss, since she doesn’t speak German. Will Elise and Mariko keep their promise to be friends?

I highly recommend this novel to readers who appreciate World War Two and the unique part of history . Be warned, keep some Kleenex on hand.
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You know author Susan Meissner from her amazing historical novels As Bright As Heaven and Secrets of a Charmed Life. And from page 1 I knew I’d enjoy The Last Year of the War. I am in awe of authors like Susan who write so beautifully and can weave a compelling story, especially one that delves into history. I began this yesterday and already cannot wait to pick it up and read more today.

SYNOPSIS:

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.

SO SO GOOD!



Due out March 2019

I stayed up late too many nights this week, unable to put this story down. With dynamic characters whose stories weave from present and past throughout the book, Susan Meissner tells a wonderful story of friendship and life during a little told part of World War ll.

*ARC provided by NetGalley