A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

A scarf, two broken hearts, and friends that help you through the mire of grief and back to the hope of love and life - that is what A Fall of Marigolds is all about.  What an interesting story!  This one does follow two parallel stories, one in 1911 and one in 2011, bound together by one bright floral scarf that touches two lives briefly but deeply.

1911 - Clara has witnessed the horrible Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and watched as her new crush Edward jumps from the ninth floor to his death.  She retreats to Ellis Island to continue nursing at the hospitals there and to get away from Manhattan and her memories.  She meets one immigrant who has contracted scarlet fever and must stay - and notices he is wearing a woman's marigold scarf.....

2011 - Taryn works in a fabric store and is a single mother to her 10 year old daughter Kendal.  You guessed it, her husband died on 9-11.  She, too, has had contact with the scarf, and as the 10 year anniversary of the towers falling and killing her husband just as she was going to tell him they were finally pregnant approaches, the scarf shows up in a startling way.....

I liked the way the author weaves these two stories together.  We spend much more time with Clara and learn fascinating details about life in those times and at Ellis Island.  I like that we aren't ripped from Clara's time every other chapter - we stay with her and feel her pain, her confusion, her panic and trauma at what she witnessed.  Maybe a bit too much - my only complaint here is that Clara, while independent enough to leave her small town and go to nursing school and make her way in New York City - is so traumatized that she becomes secluded and "faint" at the thought of setting foot back in Manhattan.  But - the story goes in many directions as she tried to help the immigrant who owns the scarf to come to terms with his wife's death on the boat, and who she really was.  Meanwhile, Taryn is in her own sort of "in-between place" (loved that whole idea about a life), never having told her daughter exactly what her experience was on September 11.

Both women hold back, both women feel guilt and loss, yet both women find a way to finally move on in their own ways.  A bit wrapped up at the end, but as someone who remembers 9-11 with sorrow and pain, I had never read anything that described what the people on the streets experienced that day.  That passage was tough to read but also good to learn.  The author interviewed many people about their personal experiences that day, and I felt that the whole event was handled well.  It was shocking and incomprehensible. But it happened.  And it changed a lot of lives in ways others will never understand. 

My book club read this and for once we all agreed that this was a good book and we liked it.  Definitely leans to chick lit, but the historical aspects were a great addition.