“People will always distrust what they don’t understand. And what they distrust, they cannot love.”–Susan Meissner, Only the Beautiful
In 1938 California, sixteen year old Roseanne Morris loses her parents and younger brother in a tragic car accident.. Orphaned with no extended family to take her in, she becomes the ward of Celine and Truman Calvert, owners of the vineyard where her father worked. She is not a typical ward, however. Celine instead employs her as a maid, thinking to prepare her for life as a domestic servant. Roseanne is grief stricken and lonely and in two moments of weakness, lets down her guard. The first is telling someone the secret she swore to her mother she would never tell anyone–that when she hears sounds she sees colors in her mind and the second results in her becoming pregnant. Celine Calvert is furious when she finds Roseanne is pregnant and calls the case worker to take her away. Roseanne assumes she will be taken to a home for unwed mothers. She is shocked when she is taken instead to a facility for the infirm. There she will have her baby taken from her as well as the potential to ever have children again.
In 1947 Austria, Helen Calvert, Truman’s sister, prepares to return to the United States. After living in Europe for decades as a nanny and experiencing first hand the brutality of the Nazis in trying to create a perfect race, she is ready to go home. When she arrives at the vineyard, she asks after Roseanne, She had met her twice when she came home over the years for visits and felt a bond with her. She is shocked and horrified when she finds out what happened to Rosie and is determined to find her. In her quest to find Rosie, she discovers the horrifying truth that Hitler was not the only person who sought to control which genes should continue and which should never be passed on. She never imagined an eugenics program could exist, let alone flourish in the United States, but that is exactly what she found. This discovery puts her on a path that will change her life forever.
This beautiful story by Susan Meissner is told from a dual point of view and with a dual time. It is an emotional gut-wrenching story that will break your heart more than once but while it is a tale of grief, it is also one of hope and second chances. It illustrates the worst and best of human nature, the difference one person can make for good, and the powerful connection between mothers and daughters. It is a beautiful, powerful story that sheds light on a dark, largely unknown period of our nation’s history. I highly recommend it.
Content Advisory: Death of family, institutionalization, sterilization