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    A Bridge Across the Ocean
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    A Bridge Across the Ocean
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    A Bridge Across the Ocean
    Audiobook10 hours

    A Bridge Across the Ocean

    Written by Susan Meissner

    Narrated by Kim Bubbs

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Wartime intrigue spans the lives of three women-past and present-in the latest novel from the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life.
     
    February, 1946. World War Two is over, but the recovery from the most intimate of its horrors has only just begun for Annaliese Lange, a German ballerina desperate to escape her past, and Simone Deveraux, the wronged daughter of a French Résistance spy.
     
    Now the two women are joining hundreds of other European war brides aboard the renowned RMS Queen Mary to cross the Atlantic and be reunited with their American husbands. Their new lives in the United States brightly beckon until their tightly-held secrets are laid bare in their shared stateroom. When the voyage ends at New York Harbor, only one of them will disembark...
     
    Present day. Facing a crossroads in her own life, Brette Caslake visits the famously haunted Queen Mary at the request of an old friend. What she finds will set her on a course to solve a seventy-year-old tragedy that will draw her into the heartaches and triumphs of the courageous war brides-and will ultimately lead her to reconsider what she has to sacrifice to achieve her own deepest longings.
     
    CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 14, 2017
    ISBN9781524774592
    Unavailable
    A Bridge Across the Ocean
    Author

    Susan Meissner

    Susan Meissner is a USA TODAY bestselling author with more than three-quarters of a million books in print in eighteen languages. Her novels have been named to numerous "best of" lists, including Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Goodreads, and Real Simple magazine. A former newspaper editor, Susan attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their yellow Lab, Winston. When she's not writing, Susan loves long walks, good coffee, and reading bedtime stories to her grandchildren. Visit her online at susanmeissnerauthor.com; Instagram: @susanmeissnerauthor; Twitter: @SusanMeissner; Facebook: @susan.meissner; and Pinterest: @SusanMeissner.

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    Reviews for A Bridge Across the Ocean

    4/5

    84 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      3.5 stars, very engaging and enjoyable. Full review to come.
    • 4/5
      My description of the elements in this book will leave you shaking your head, however Meissner’s ability to weave the past and the present together creates an interesting, entertaining good read in a believable way.Facts: In 1946 the RSM Queen Mary sailed from England to New York with 1600 mainly British war brides. In 1967 the Queen Mary was decommissioned and her last voyage was to Long Beach, California to become a floating hotel and tourist attraction.There have been reports of ghosts haunting the Queen Mary in Long Beach.In 1946 two women, one German and one French, sailed on the Queen Mary, one was a war bride. The story travels back to provide their history. In the present day a young woman is struggling to accept or deny a trait that has appeared in the female side of her family for generations. She is able to see what she calls Drifters, people who have died but not passed on to the other side for some reason. She brings all the parts of the novel together.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Reviewed October 6, 2018
    • 3/5
      A solidly good story if you open your mind to what COULD be. History mixed with the paranormal mixed with good writing! My only problem is that the story-line should have been pulled together sooner, and a couple of the characters personalities deserved a bit more attention. 3.5 STARS
    • 4/5
      History with a touch of the paranormal would be a good description for this novel, which features a modern-day heroine sent on a quest to uncover the truth by a ghostly apparition. Digging into the past of WWII war brides and the voyages of the RMS Queen Mary, Brette experiences her own journey towards finding peace with herself. I will admit I liked portions of the story from the 1940s much better than the parts set in the present - in fact, I think a stronger novel could have been written without the portion of the book that takes place in the present day (but I'm not the author). Overall, a pretty good read about WWII and some lesser known parts of history.
    • 5/5
      A young woman who has a "gift" for seeing ghosts is pressed to solve a child's angst over her deceased mother. What is uncovered is a post WWII cover-up by two women who outran abusive Nazi husbands and soldiers. Who is the ghost on the now retired Queen Mary? I found the plot line of the the family surrounding and supporting the gifted young woman to be a bit unbelievable. How many family members of yours would just accept that you could see or sense ghosts? I read this in one sitting and was entertained, but you need to be able to buy into the whole paranormal aspect. My thanks to the author and the Penguin First to Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 5/5
      I give this book a five out of five stars. I loved how this went from the past and the present.this was very well done. I don't always enjoy stories that go between the past and present but this one flowed well. I never got lost. I laughed and cried during this book. I loved the characters. I received an ebook copy of this book from Firsttoread for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
    • 4/5
      Three women are aboard the Queen Mary, heading across the ocean to meet up with their American soldier husbands after WWII. They don't know each other or their stories but are roommates on the five-day voyage to America. As they introduce themselves we are taken back in time to their life before and during WWII in France, Belgium, and Germany. One of them has a secret and once it comes out, their three lives are changed forever.Meissner is known for combining past stories with the present day in her novels and this one is no exception. Brette is a young, married professional who lives in Southern California. She has always lived a very quiet life because once her high school friends found out she had "The Sight" she was ostracized by them and since then she has tried to keep her ability to see and communicate with ghosts, or drifters, as she calls them, to herself. Now her husband is ready to have children and she isn't sure that she is willing to pass on "The Sight" if they would have a daughter. After a visit onboard the Queen Mary, she is confronted by a drifter and feels the need to find answers for the drifter and maybe those answers will help decide her own future.I wasn't expecting this book to be about ghosts and was admittedly quite unsure if I was going to like this book at all. But, one of Meissner's previous books, THE FALL OF MARIGOLDS, was a favorite of 2014 so I decided to keep going and I'm glad I did. My favorite parts of the book included the stories of these women during WWII and the extreme heartbreak and danger they went through. One of the women was part of the French Resistance. Another lived a horrific life married to a Nazi soldier. I am still in awe of the people who risked their lives to hide and help those who were traumatized by the Nazi officials. Their stories are inspiring and remind me of the goodness that abounded during WWII even though there was so much evil.Meissner's novel is very character-driven and you become attached to the three women on the ship as well as Brette during the present day. Her struggle with "The Sight" is one I've never read about before and I have to assume the author met with someone who has that ability for her research. The drifter has her own story to tell and you may be surprised who she is revealed to be.Fans of historical fiction or dual-time period stories will be swept away by this novel. I learned much about the Queen Mary and her many voyages including those that carried foreign brides across the ocean. It has definitely made me want to visit the Queen Mary myself. In fact, I just heard on the news that they are making Queen Mary Island into a large attraction and event center with shops, restaurants, and other activities.I would have picked up this book for the cover alone. It is absolutely gorgeous, but the story is just as compelling. Meissner has blended historical fiction with a present-day ghost story and it works.Favorite Quote:"They are afraid of what they can't see, just like us. It's as if there's a bridge they need to cross. And it's like crossing over the ocean. They can't see the other side. So they are afraid to cross it."
    • 5/5
      Three women, three stories, three connected lives.Annaliese, Brette, and Simone were connected by WWII and ghosts.A BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN takes us from WWII to present day with three intriguing stories.Annaliese was a German girl, Brett was a present-day American who had inherited an unusual gift, and Simone was a French girl who fell in love with an American during WWII.Even though ghosts appear in this novel, the ghosts are what connects the present to the past for the three main characters. It isn't a major theme, but a good one. The paranormal aspect didn't detract from the wonderful, detailed story line.The characters were all ones that you couldn't help but sympathize with and love.Annaliese's story was my favorite simply because of the mystery surrounding her. Brette's story was interesting even though I am not interested in paranormal, but her ability to see spirits added another layer to the book and made connections between characters. Simone's story was sweet, sad, and very plausible.What I enjoyed was learning about the RMS Queen Mary that was first used as a war ship then a ship that brought WWII European brides back to America to be united with their husbands.A BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN is another truly enjoyable, emotional book by Ms. Meissner. The final pages and revelations are marvelous...loved the book. 5/5This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      3.75 Stars I enjoyed this one. The historical timelines are heartbreaking and written pretty well (alternate POVs). It did take longer for me to fully appreciate the contemporary story, especially since it did not flow as effortlessly as the WWII arc, but it pulls in the reader eventually too. There's a supernatural element and the ending did surprise me. If you like historical women's novels, this book might be up your alley.Penguin First to Read Galley
    • 5/5
      The audiobook narration was fantastic and engaging.
      Did not want to put this down. Thoroughly enjoyable and engaging.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book more than I expected. My advise to others is not to let the plot summary about paranormal activity scare you off. I liked the struggles of the present day character Brette, as well as the perspective of the WWII war brides. I found this book one I couldn't put down. I love the symbolism of the title that unfolded throughout the book.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars, very engaging and enjoyable. Full review to come.
    • 5/5
      BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN by Susan MiessnerI don’t usually like “ghost” stories, but this one was intriguing. Give it a chance.After WWII many American GI’s married the women came to know and love while overseas, this book tells the story of three of them. The “War Brides” came to the United States only after being cleared by the US government and passing health exams. They came in large groups on former troop ships to at last rejoin their husbands, often with small children in tow.A present day woman who “sees ghosts” is talked into visiting the Queen Mary in its California dock to reassure a young girl. What she finds there is not the Ghost of the young girls dead mother but an entirely different ghost, one who leads her to research the war brides who traveled on the ship in 1946.Interesting and well researched with believable characters and situations, Miessner tells a tale of love, betrayal, and desperation. 5 of 5 stars
    • 4/5
      Interesting WWII historic fiction read with a modern day supernatural twist.
    • 3/5
      I liked it enough. Then, I loved it. By the end I simply liked it. Ending was not ... eh - who am I to say HOW it was supposed to end. Once I finally accepted the premise of the book, it was a disappointing ending for me. (I wanted to say stupid, but I don't care for the word.)
    • 5/5
      Wonderful book! A BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN is a lovely blending of ghost story, historical fiction, mystery, and women’s fiction. The story is told from differing points of view in multiple time periods, mainly during WWII, just after WWII ends, and also present day. It may feel a bit disjointed at first, but I promise the book quickly finds a nice flow and all the pieces come together for an amazing ending.The majestic ship, the RMS Queen Mary, has served many purposes since its maiden voyage in 1936, one being a vessel to transport thousands of European war brides across the Atlantic to their new husbands in America. In February 1946, two of those brides are Simone Deveraux from France, and Annaliese Lange from Germany. The war years were horrific for both of them, and both women are looking forward to a new beginning in the US. Unfortunately, fate has other plans…In present day, Brette Caslake is struggling with her special, yet burdensome, gift of being able to see and communicate with ghosts. She’s spent years trying to ignore them, but her experiences during a visit to the Queen Mary has made Brette rethink her position on restless spirits.A BRIDGE ACROSS THE OCEAN is a unique take on WWII historical fiction. I enjoyed the compelling characters, the paranormal elements, and the multi-layered mystery. Susan Meissner writes beautifully, and I’m looking forward to checking out more of her work.Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      Tuesday, March 14, 2017A Bridge Across the Ocean by Susan Meissner, © 2017The Trans-Atlantic Crossing of European War Brides on the Luxury Liner RMS Queen Mary"Here's a link to a video of war bride, June Allen, who I became friends with in the research and writing of this book. You will love her..." ~ author Susan MeissnerAfter watching this video, Queen Mary ~ War Brides (June Allen), I was excited to be able to read Susan Meissner's A Bridge Across the Ocean!I really liked the intro of the ladies we would be traveling with, their back story, before they got on the ship. This gave me a feel for their thoughts and reasoning for their actions when they got together. Amazing, actually, as I was unaware the brides were sent on ships to meet their husbands in America. Somehow, I thought they came together as a couple, as anyone would travel. Mistaken! I came to care for each one individually, to root for them, before they boarded the ship and the adventure before them.RMS Queen MaryThis is a composite of brides aboard the vessel and not one, individually ~ it is not June Allen's story specifically, but rather a compilation of women during this time; their trials and separation from what they knew, hopeful to advance to a happier, freer personhood.Can you imagine being cast together, unsure of whom to trust, would they set you aside?"There is always a place somewhere in the world where the sun is shining."--A Bridge Across the Ocean, 208.Traveling from England's shores in the 1940s to the New York harbor, a five-day crossing journey surrounds the ocean liner. Arriving in America, the rescuer of the tired, hungry, longing for a new beginning; the war brides are eager to be reunited with their husbands after a longer separation.Activity on the crossing is brought to the forefront as seventy years later a young wife delves to answer questions for a former classmate, and finds herself seeking answers.~*~The author has included habitation by ghosts aboard the RMS Queen Mary throughout the story.About the Author ~ Susan Meissner is a former managing editor of a weekly newspaper and an award-winning columnist. She is the award-winning author of A Bridge Across the Ocean, Secrets of a Charmed Life, A Fall of Marigolds, and Stars Over Sunset Boulevard, among other novels.A Penguin For Every Reader.***Thank you to Berkley for sending me a copy of this novel. This review was written in my own words. No other compensation was received.***
    • 3/5
      There are three narratives in play in this book. The first is Brette Caslake, a woman living in modern-day San Diego. Brette can see and talk with ghosts, though she has been trying to supress this aspect of herself since she was a little girl. The second is Simone Deveraux, a French Resistance fighter. The third is Annaliese Lange,a former ballerina fleeing from her Nazi husband.Simone and Annaliese are thrown together on the RMS Queen Mary as it steams across the Atlantic in 1946 to reunite European war brides with their American husbands. But the secrets both women must keep simmer under the surface, and only one woman will get off the ship in New York. Meanwhile in the present day, Brette is investigating the Queen Mary as a favor to an old friend. She encounters a spirit on the ship which points her towards the half-century-old mystery . . .I’m of two minds regarding this book. The stories of Simone and Annaliese are very well done. Each woman is given a unique voice, and their histories are compelling; the mystery surrounding their fatal voyage is engaging. You wind up caring deeply about the fate of both these women.In contrast, Brette’s modern day storyline feels flat and tacked on. Her story feels like it exists solely as a tool to push the 1940s narrative along, and even then it feels unnecessary; Simone and Annaliese’s story could have been told entirely without the present-day narrative. The idea of a woman who can speak with ghosts is intriguing, but the end result here is unsatisfying. Brette allows herself to be bullied into investigating the haunted ship, all the while dealing with a husband who may or may not think she’s insane, but is trying to push her into having children anyway. Brette’s fears about motherhood, and passing on her unwanted ability onto her children are summarily brushed aside by her husband, and his acceptance (or lack thereof) of her abilities are never really resolved. I found the entire thing to be aggravating, and I found myself flipping past the chapters which featured Brette in favor of finding out what happened to the women in 1946.In all, this is not a bad book, but I can’t help feel that the modern day narrative detracts from the overall story. Still, the book is worth checking out for Simone and Annaliese’s stories, and other readers may not find Brette’s storyline so off-putting.An advance ebook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A Bridge Across the Ocean will be available for purchase on March 7th, 2017.
    • 3/5
      Brette Caslake can see ghosts- she calls them Drifters. This ability runs in her mother’s side of the family, and is creating a problem in her life- she is afraid to have a child, lest it be a girl who inherits the ability. She ignores the Drifters, frightened not of them but of being driven mad like a relative was. So she’s very unhappy when an old classmate calls out of the blue, asking her to use her ability to help him. His daughter, with her mother recently dead, thinks she has found the spirit of her mother. Will Brette go and see, and, hopefully, put the thought to rest?Reluctantly, Brette agrees. The ghost is supposedly on the Queen Mary, the ship with a varied history: luxury liner; troop transport in WW 2; carrier of hundreds of European women who married Americans during the war and now need to get to America to reunite with their husband; stationary tourist attraction in Long Beach, CA. Brette goes, and discovers that the rumors are true; the ship really is haunted, by several spirits. The little girl’s mother, however, is not among them, but a nameless, formless spirit seizes on Brette and guides her to a plaque stating that a war bride committed suicide. The spirit conveys wordlessly that it wants Brette to investigate this. There are two other story lines, of two of the war brides; they both take place during WW 2. Simone is a member of the French Resistance after her father and brother are murdered and she is brutalized. While in hiding, she cares for an American paratrooper who was shot. Katrine is British/Belgic, but is carrying a huge secret. Eventually, Simone and Katrine board the Queen Mary and share a room with Phoebe, the one person without a backstory. She serves mainly to draw out Simone and Katrine, and to lighten the mood- not everyone on board this ship has been treated as horribly as Simone and Katrine have been. As they cross the ocean, they share their stories, and Katrine’s secret comes out. The ending, and also the identity of the spirit that Brette met on the QM, both surprised me. The story itself left something to be desired in my opinion, and I’m not sure what. I’m not horribly bothered by multiple story lines, as long as they aren’t easily confused with each other, and there was no doubting who each section was about. The sections on Katrine and Simone are heart rending. Brette did a good job of sleuthing to find out what happened on the QM, but her character wasn’t very vivid. I couldn’t quite care about her problems. Even Phoebe, who had no backstory, was a stronger character. You’d remember her if you met her; she’s the big cheerful Englishwoman with the child, a woman who wants everyone to be happy. The horror that Katrine and Simone went through keeps this book from being fluffy, even though the ghost whisperer angle skews it that way some. Three out of five stars.