Only the Beautiful: A Novel

Author Susan Meissner says Only the Beautiful focuses on "a movement in history that has been all but forgotten." The eugenics movement led to state laws authorizing the sterilization of institutionalized citizens who had conditions deemed to result from genetic flaws for the purpose of "race betterment." Not only were persons with disabilities discouraged from having children in the name of "making better, healthier babies." Those adjudicated unable to make their own medical decisions were forcibly sterilized. Many of them were labeled "feeble minded" or "imbeciles," but even persons with epilepsy and alcoholism were subjected to the irreversible medical procedure against their will.

When Meissner began her research for the book, she show more had only passing knowledge of the eugenics movement. While conducting research to pen The Nature of Fragile Things, she happened upon photographs from the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco, one of which depicted an exhibit touting eugenics. She continued researching and when she learned about the tragic case of Carrie Buck, she "toyed with" the idea of fictionalizing her story but abandoned the notion because she realized Buck's story "was just too sad." Although Buck earned average grades in school, she lived in poverty and was targeted as an "imbecile," largely because her mother was institutionalized. While a foster child, she was assaulted and impregnated by the foster family's nephew. At just eighteen years of age, she was the first person involuntarily sterilized in Virginia pursuant to a statute which was, unbelievably, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1927 decision in Buck v. Bell. The Court found that sterilization of institutionalized persons who were deemed to suffer from a hereditary form of insanity or imbecility was within the power accorded states under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sadly, Virginia was not the only state seeking “race betterment.” The Buck case permitted laws to be enacted in all fifty states that remained in effect for decades and resulted in the forced sterilization of more than sixty thousand men and women. California, which has for many years provided the broadest civil rights protections of any state, was actually the worst offender. Between 1909 and 1964, the highest number – more than twenty thousand -- of involuntary sterilizations were performed in the state and the law permitting the procedure was not repealed until 1979. It wasn’t until 2003 that the State issued a formal apology and $7.5 million was earmarked for reparation payments to victims in 2021.

Meissner determined to tell a story built around fictional characters, but based on actual historical events that would encompass "powerful, hopeful moments." She succeeded.

Only the Beautiful opens in 1938. Meissner tells the tragic story of Rosie, who grew up in a loving family on a beautiful vineyard in Sonoma County. But school was always difficult for her because she was born with a hereditary condition – synesthesia. For synesthetes, stimulation of one of the senses produces an involuntary reaction in another sense. In her first-person narrative, Rosie explains that sounds cause her to see colors and shapes, and numbers, names, and places all correlate with specific colors. At that time, synesthesia was not yet understood by the scientific and medical communities. Her parents warned her that she perceived the world differently than other people and must keep her experiences secret. She convinced her parents to let her quit school when she turned sixteen because the “colors in my mind were always fighting for my attention, and there were so many sounds at school. Too many. It had been so hard to concentrate.” Math was particularly difficult. Indeed, Meissner notes that, in those days, synesthesia was considered a "flaw to be removed and definitely not to be passed on,” even though her research revealed that many synesthetes find their condition is "beautiful. It adds depth and dimension to their lives. They see colors in the periphery of their mind,” despite the fact that, like fictional Rosie, many of them struggle in school.

As the story opens, Rosie loses her entire family – her parents and younger brother – in a tragic motor vehicle accident and, with no other relatives to care for her, the owners of the vineyard on which she has spent her entire life, Truman and Celine Calvert, take her in. Truman, a World War I veteran, is quiet, reserved, and deferential to his domineering wife who requires Rosie to serve as the family’s maid to prepare her for life beyond the vineyard when she becomes an adult. The arrangement works well for a time, until the Calverts’ son, Wilson, returns for a visit. He brings up a long-ago conversation with Rosie during which he thought she said she could see ghosts. She, of course, denies that, but later confesses the truth to Truman.

At age seventeen, Rosie becomes pregnant, and when she can no longer hide her condition, Celine is incensed. She demands not only that Rosie leave their home immediately but uses her knowledge of Rosie’s synesthesia to see to it that Rosie suffers a fate she never knew was imaginable. She believes that she will be sent to a home for unwed mothers until her baby is born and has no intention of relinquishing her child for adoption. Instead, the county social worker transports her to the Sonoma State Home for the Infirm (modeled after the real Sonoma State Home). Naturally, Rosie protests but quickly learns that objections result in punishment.

Rosie’s story is harrowing, particularly when read with an understanding that it is based upon the experiences of actual victims of prejudice against and misunderstanding of not just synesthesia, but myriad other conditions, as well. Meissner heightens the power of the tale by relating it in Rosie’s own words and from her perspective. She credibly describes her shock about her circumstances, regret about having failed to keep her condition a secret, the horrific living conditions and abuse to which she is subjected in the institution, and her determination to be released and build a meaningful life for herself.

Part Two of Only the Beautiful is told in the first-person by Helen Calvert, Truman’s sister. It opens in 1947 in Lucerne, Switzerland as Helen, at sixty-two, is returning to California after decades spent working for various families as a nanny in Europe. Helen became acquainted with Rosie when she was a young girl growing up at the vineyard, and the Calverts made it a point to share her letters with Rosie over the years. For Rosie’s first Christmas without her family, Helen sent her an amaryllis plant to cheer her, and Rosie treasured it and all it represented.

Helen is understandably weary. She opted to remain in Europe when war broke out, rather than return to the United States. She relates her experiences with the Maier family in Austria, the last family for whom she served as a nanny. She was particularly fond of their youngest child, seven-year-old Brigitta, who was born prematurely and struggled to reach developmental milestones. The Germans invaded and annexed Austria in 1938, and Johannes Maier was forced to serve as an officer in a panzer division while his wife, Martine, remained at home with the children and Helen. But even the family of a Nazi officer was not immune from the atrocities of the Adolf Hitler regime.

When Hitler came to power in Germany, he did not immediately begin constructing concentration camps in which to imprison and murder Jews. His quest to create a “master race” began with measures designed to alter the genetic makeup of the German population through "racial hygiene" or eugenics, relying on ideas that had already been adopted by the mainstream medical community. The Nazis started by involuntarily sterilizing persons they believed should not procreate. The sought to eradicate persons with disabilities, referring to them as “useless eaters.” They did not just target adults. Children were forcibly removed from their parents’ care and transported to special “hospitals” like Am Steinhof and Hartheim Castle where they were subjected to experimentation and murdered.

Helen describes her wartime experiences, and the heartbreakingly unthinkable events Meissner includes are difficult to read about, based upon actual events. Helen never had children of her own, but in her role as a nanny, cared for her charges as though they were her own. But she was, like most people, naïve and could never have envisioned the evils the Nazis were capable of. Wracked with guilt, regret, and remorse, she resolves to save as many children as she can.

And when she returns to California and has a visit with Celine, she is appalled and outraged to learn what transpired in her absence and the fate that befell Rosie. She is determined to find Rosie’s child and enlists her good friends, one of whom is a lawyer, to assist her. Of course, in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the internet did not exist, and it was much more difficult to find people . . . and adoption records were sealed.

The actions of the Nazi regime “shown a light on eugenic legislation,” illustrating how such laws led to catastrophic abuse. "It was kind of a defining moment in our history, and it's being forgotten," Meissner laments. Only the Beautiful is a compelling and credible story, set against the backdrop of the monstrous agenda of the Nazis and the abhorrent eugenic movement that gained traction in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. Through the tragedies that befall her characters and the challenges they face, Meissner illustrates the intersection and similarities of the two, emphasizing their far-reaching and tragic consequences.

Meissner’s characters are fully developed, multi-layered, and empathetic. Rosie, in particular, easily slips into readers’ hearts. A minor, powerless to make decisions about her own life and health, she is ensnared in the custody of the county, victimized by a vengeful, angry, and bitter woman and her weak, despicable husband who claim to care about Rosie, and confined to an institution by medical personnel who fail to listen to her or understand that she is not “inform” or afflicted in any way that makes her incapable of competently parenting. Rosie discovers in the most painful ways that her “parents were right to fear the colors. They are dangerous. People will always distrust what they don’t understand. And what they distrust, they cannot love.”

Helen is also intriguing and sympathetic. She refuses to acquiesce when evil forces come to power, intent on doing whatever she can to help as many children as possible and, perhaps, atone for one innocent, but horrible mistake.

The pace of Only the Beautiful never slows as Meissner’s poignant narratives alternate between past and present before melding seamlessly. Although some plot details are gut wrenching and deeply upsetting, their inclusion is critical to the characters’ motivations and development, as well as the message Meissner seeks to convey. There are times “in our history that we ought not to forget. If we forget our history, we are more apt to repeat it, aren’t we?” Meissner provides an emotionally satisfying conclusion to her riveting story, demonstrating that despite all the cruelty and misguided quests for power and dominance that people are capable of, there are also “people who will stand up for those who can't stand and speak for those who cannot speak and it's their bravery that encourages the rest of us to do the same.” In other words, there is always cause for hope.

Moreover, given that reproductive rights are again at issue in the United States, with increasingly restrictive laws being passed in many states and critical political races poised to hinge on candidates’ positions on the subject, Only the Beautiful is a decidedly timely and contemporary work of historical fiction. The book lends itself to discussion and debate about who has the right and should be empowered to make decisions about bearing and raising children, government overreach into decision-making, and how best to ensure that the dark and shameful historical events Meissner depicts are never permitted to recur.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book. show less

Happy Publication Day!
April 18, 2023


4.5⭐️

“Who defines what is weakness? I’d wondered. Isn’t it only the strong who get to decide that? Isn’t it only the strong who have the power to act on what they decide? How can that be right or fair or good?”

In 1938, sixteen-year-old Rosanne “Rosie” Maras is taken in by her Celine and Truman Calvert after her parents and younger brother perished in a tragic accident. Her late father was employed as a vinedresser by the Calverts and she had spent her whole life on their property in Sonoma County, California. Celine Calvert employs her as a Maid, hoping to prepare her for a future in domestic service. Rosie is somewhat content with her life with the Calverts, though she grieves for show more her losses. Eventually, Rosie ends up pregnant and Celine ships her off to what Rosie assumes will be a home for unwed mothers. What follows is a horrifying sequence of events, depicting one of the worst kinds of evils exacted in the name of science and the greater good, against helpless individuals with no agency or the right to defend themselves. Rosie associates every audio stimulation to different colors, and sees colors when she hears sounds, – a neurological condition (“synesthesia”) that was not known much about at the time and therefore labeled an “abnormality”. It is this label that leaves her fate in the hands of those who consider her “abnormality” a “burden” on society.

In 1947, after spending almost 40 years in Europe, working as a nanny, Truman Calver’s sister Helen returns to California. Her brother has since passed on and his wife isn’t too happy to have Helen in her home. Celine becomes even more hostile when Helen enquires after Rosie, the young girl she had befriended years ago. When she learns of Rosie’s plight, Helen set out to find her and her child. Her quest leads her to the realization that evil practices similar to the ones she had witnessed in Nazi-occupied Europe exist closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

Meticulously researched, informative, brutal and heartbreaking, Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner is a remarkable work of historical fiction. Powerful prose and the dual PoVs set against different backdrops in the same era render this novel a compelling read. Both Rosie’s and Helen’s PoVs are heart-wrenching. While Rosie’s story paints a heartbreaking picture of those forcibly institutionalized as “mentally ill” and whose fates are determined by the whims of doctors and social workers, Helen’s account of her life in Vienna during the Nazi occupation, which is revealed through flashbacks - the atrocities of war and the crimes exacted against children deemed to be unfit by Nazi evaluators, Aktion T4 and Krankenmorde – is horrifying. The narrative is well-structured and though I found the ending to be a tad too neat, I am glad that the story ends on a hopeful note. Do read the Author’s Note wherein the author discusses the historical context of this story. While I have read about involuntary euthanasia practiced in the early years of WWII under the Nazi regime, I had limited knowledge of the eugenics laws practiced in the United States in that era and was unaware of the fact that these practices not only predated and influenced Nazi policies but were continued for several decades.

“With giving, there is cost, isn’t there? There is always cost. Sometimes it is an easy sum to hand over. And sometimes it exacts from you the whole measure of your heart.”

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for providing a digital review copy of this novel via Edelweiss . All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Please Note: Given the subject matter, it is evident that this book is not an easy read. Please note that many of these topics and events described in this story are immensely disturbing.
⚠ Rape, involuntary euthanasia and forced sterilizations. show less

An aptly named novel since eugenics features prominently in the lives of the characters. In 1938, Rosie's parents and only sibling die in an automobile accident when she is 15 years old. Her parents lived in a small house on the land and vineyards owned by the Calvert family while her father was involved in the harvesting of grapes and the making of wine. After their death, she becomes a ward of the Calverts where she assumes most of the household duties. Rosie has an unusual gift called synesthesia, which means she sees colors when hearing sounds. When Rosie becomes pregnant by Truman Calvert, the patriarch, in a non-consensual, wine-fueled night, she is banished to an institution for the mentally unstable rather than a home for unwed show more mothers because she revealed her synesthesia to Truman.

Truman's sister, Helen, is a nanny in Europe while WWII rages. Her favorite charge is a physically disabled girl who comes under Nazi scrutiny and is taken as a participant in the eugenics program and never seen again. This inspires Helen to save as many children as possible from the same fate. Additionally, Helen finds and adopts the child born to Rosie when she was institutionalized.

This plot was fairly predictable with some unlikely coincidences. The subject of eugenics is utterly horrible and may be examined in depth in other noteworthy nonfiction books. show less

Set in California during WWII, this story is about a young woman who undergoes terrible hardship (repeatedly!). Though well-written and seemingly having all the right ingredients, I wasn’t emotionally invested in the main character, as I should have been. I liked the historical aspect of the book. I think it is important to remember the abuses of prior generations, (vulnerable women in this case), how our thinking was so flawed, paternalistic and judgmental.

Susan Meissner's "Only the Beautiful" opens in California in the late 1930s. Roseanne Maras' father is employed in a vineyard owned by Celine Calvert. Sadly, Mr. Maras, his wife, and son perish in a tragic accident, leaving sixteen-year-old Roseanne without any relatives to take her in. Celine and her husband, Truman, agree to become Rosie's legal guardians, but they do not treat her like a member of their family. Instead, Mrs. Calvert informs the teenager that she will cook, clean, and take care of other household chores in exchange for room, board, and a small stipend.

A year passes, and Celine is livid when she learns that Rosie is expecting a baby. Mrs. Calvert arranges for Rosie's transfer to "The Sonoma State Home for the Infirm," show more rather than a shelter for unwed mothers. Adding to the teenager's woes is her neurological condition, synesthesia, which was not well-understood at that time. When Rosie hears sounds, she also sees colors and shapes. Her parents warn her never to speak of it, lest people stigmatize her as mentally defective. In the institution, Rosie is subjected to one indignity after another and, of course, keeping her baby is out of the question.

The second part of the book is narrated by Helen Calvert, Truman's sister, an American citizen who lives and works in Vienna. Helen is horrified when she learns of the nefarious plans that the Nazis have in store for children who do not meet their standards of perfection. Ultimately, Helen's and Rosie's stories converge, but the divided narrative structure gives the book a disjointed feel. Furthermore, Meissner's characters are, for the most part, one-dimensional. Celine and others in positions of power are unfeeling, while the good-hearted Rosie and Helen are a bit too naïve to easily navigate the difficult circumstances in which they find themselves. "Only the Beautiful" has poignant moments and well-researched information about the eugenics movement, but its melodramatic plot, heavy-handed messaging, and pat ending undermine its overall impact. show less

It's another hit for me from this author. This time, her historical fiction story pulls back the curtain on eugenics back in the 1930s and 1940s (which continued in many states for decades afterward.) I loved 16 yo Rosanne who has lost her parents and only sibling, taken in by the owners of the vineyard that had employed her parents, but treated as a maid instead of family. Rosanne is "different" in that she sees colors when she hears things, which lands her in a mental institution.
The horror of fact behind this fiction makes the story even more gripping and the author does a fabulous job of enlightening the reader while entertaining us with interesting characters and several subplots.
I loved the characters (the ones that were show more loveable!) and the way the story played out. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this fantastic read. show less

Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner is a touching story. It is a dual timeline novel that takes us back to 1938 when Rosie lost her parents in an accident. The sixteen-year girl is taken in by the Calvert’s who own the vineyard where Rosie’s parents worked. Rosie becomes the Calvert’s maid (cook, cleaner, laundress). When Rosie becomes pregnant, Mrs. Calvert has Rosie sent to an institution. Rosie had made the mistake of telling a person about her synesthesia which was not understood at the time. In 1947, Helen Calvert returns to the United States after working as a nanny abroad. Helen’s brother, Truman has since passed. When Helen learns what Celine Calvert did to Rosie, she sets out to find her. Only the Beautiful is an show more emotional story. It is heartbreaking to read about the eugenics movement. I appreciated the author’s note at the end which provided additional information. I thought the story was well-written with developed characters. Rosie and Helen are great characters. I enjoyed getting to know them. I like the author incorporated the amaryllis into the story. I can tell the author did her research for this book and incorporated it beautifully. The story does address some difficult topics (racism, institutionalization, sterilization, assault, and doctor experimentation) which some people might have trouble reading about. It is a shame that throughout history those who are “different” are often targeted. Only the Beautiful is an informative book. It is a story that provokes discussion and it had me searching for more information on a couple of the topics mentioned. I enjoyed the author’s beautiful descriptions of the vineyard. The theme that runs throughout the book is that no one needs to live the life that someone else has mapped out for them. The determined can carve out their own path. Only the Beautiful is a compelling tale orphaned adolescent, unwavering vineyard owner, a compassionate nanny, vibrant sounds, an involuntary surgery, and a desperate hunt. show less