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Susan Meissner writes inspirational, Literary, and General Fiction. The American author has also penned Historical fiction and Mysteries. Born in 1961 in San Diego, California, the former Point Loma Nazarene University student was an avid reader and writer during her childhood.
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Order of Rachael Flynn Series
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Widows & Orphans | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
2 | Sticks & Stones | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
3 | Days & Hours | 2007 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Meissner Children's Books
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pumpkin Day at the Zoo (Short Story) | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
2 | To Mimi's House We Go | 2024 | Description / Buy |
Order of Susan Meissner Standalone Novels
# | Read | Title | Published | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Why the Sky Is Blue | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
2 | A Window to the World | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
3 | The Remedy for Regret | 2005 | Description / Buy | |
4 | In All Deep Places | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
5 | A Seahorse in the Thames | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
6 | The Shape of Mercy | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
7 | Blue Heart Blessed | 2008 | Description / Buy | |
8 | White Picket Fences | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
9 | Lady in Waiting | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
10 | A Sound Among the Trees | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
11 | The Girl in the Glass | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
12 | A Fall of Marigolds | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
13 | Secrets of a Charmed Life | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
14 | Stars Over Sunset Boulevard | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
15 | A Bridge Across the Ocean | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
16 | As Bright as Heaven | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
17 | The Last Year of the War | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
18 | The Nature of Fragile Things | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
19 | When We Had Wings | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
20 | Only the Beautiful | 2023 | Description / Buy | |
21 | A Map to Paradise | 2025 | Description / Buy |
However, she primarily wrote for fun. To the author, writing was a therapeutic tool. She never took it seriously, and the thought of pursuing the activity professionally did not appeal to her.
She always assumed that a publishing career would strip writing of its joy. She came to this conclusion at an early age after noticing all the adults in her life that came back from work tired.
She did not realize that someone could make their hobby a job without losing their passion for the activity. It took the author decades to write her first novel. In the years leading up to that moment, Meissner worked as an editor and columnist for a local newspaper.
The position was educational because it showed the author that human existence had more depth and intricacies than a cursory glance suggested. She has compared human beings to a quilt constituting several small pieces.
She came to understand and appreciate the factors that differentiated human lives by penning obituaries. She also saw all the ways ordinary human beings could impact one another.
Those lessons informed her stories. Meissner made the decision to write her first novel after her paternal grandfather died. The author was a wife and mother at the time, and she had plenty of valid reasons that would have excused her from pursuing her publishing dreams.
But her grandfather’s death forced Meissner to act. The notion of dying without pursuing her desires bothered the editor. So, she abandoned the newspaper and wrote ‘Why The Sky Is Blue.’
The story was controversial. It followed a married woman struggling with the notion of giving birth to a baby she conceived through a violent rape. The author wrote the book following a conversation with a reader.
Whenever Meissner wrote articles expressing her pro-life views, one subscriber would visit the newspaper’s HQ and challenge the author’s views. She would accuse Meissner of prioritizing the life of the child while paying little or no attention to the mother.
The subscriber would also conclude that Meissner’s views were only strong because she couldn’t imagine what it was like to conceive a child because of sexual assault.
These conversations compelled Meissner to write ‘Why The Sky is Blue.’ It encouraged her to reconsider her position by imagining what she would feel if she ever found herself in the position of a person that had to contend with a pregnancy originating from rape. It took the author a year to find a publisher.
Susan Meissner Awards
Meissner has received San Diego, Carol, and Christian Book Awards. She has also received a Rita and Christy Award nomination.
Best Susan Meissner Books
The author writes stories that explore difficult moral decisions. Meissner’s best books include:
Secrets of a Charmed Life: ‘Secrets of a Charmed Life’ tells stories set in different eras. One story follows 15-year-old Emmy and her sister Julia in the 1940s. Hitler’s war machine is advancing, and London’s authorities have evacuated the civilian population to the countryside.
Emmy is not happy with the new life she’s expected to make in a Cotswold cottage. If she had her way, she would return to the city where an apprenticeship with a fashion designer awaits her. But her sister Julia still needs her.
Meanwhile, Kendra Van Zant cannot wait to interview Isabel McFarland in present-day England. If everything goes according to plan, the elderly woman will give up the secrets she has protected for the last few decades.
A Fall of Marigolds: For Clara Wood, Manhattan in 1911 had nothing but misery to offer. She lost the love of her life in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. When she met a fevered immigrant struggling with his own losses, the last thing the nurse expected was for the name embroidered on his scarf to create a disturbing dilemma.
For Taryn Michaels, life isn’t so bad. The widow has a fulfilling job and a daughter she loves. Her husband died when the World Trade Towers collapsed. Taryn thought she had moved on. But then, a lost photograph brought painful memories to the surface.
When Does The Next Susan Meissner book come out?
The next book by Susan Meissner is A Map to Paradise and will be released on March, 18th 2025.