Elise Sontag, born in Davenport Iowa, is the daughter of German immigrants. In 1943, she is a fledgling teenager when her world is turned upside down as her father, under suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer is arrested and taken away. With her father’s assets frozen and her mother unable to provide stability for herself and her two children, they are forced out of their home, and months later sent to an internment camp in Crystal City Texas, where they are reunited with Elise’s father. While there, Elise meets and is befriended by Mariko Inoue, a daughter of Japanese immigrants whose family is also detained at the facility. Together they spend the remainder of 1943 and all of 1944 in each other’s company, attending school at the camp, suffering the heat and hardships of their confinement, co-writing the story of Calista, a character created by Mariko, and dreaming about a future they will begin together in New York City, where Mariko will become a theater critic or reporter, and Elise will discover who she is meant to become. In early 1945 the two are separated permanently when Elise’s family is repatriated to Pforzheim Germany. Through the years that follow, Elise experiences the terror and devastation of living in a war zone. She has limited correspondence with Mariko and eventually their letters to each other end. Although Elise’s girlish dreams of the adventure she would have with Mariko in New York City die, her friend’s inspiration that she discover who she is lead her to take advantage of a window of opportunity to leave Germany and return to the United States, where she finds her future.

This book successfully imparts the value of family, though all of the families in the novel have serious flaws. Elise’s parents fail to see the impact their choices will make on their children’s lives, Mariko’s parents attempt to control their children, which drives them away, and the Doves exist in shallow naivety. In spite of this, it is the love these family members have for each other that propel them forward.

Although I thought this was a wonderful read, I do have a few criticisms to share. I’ll start with the title, The Last Year of the War, which would be 1945. I’m confused about why she chose this phrase when the premise of the novel is the strength of the friendship Elise built with Mariko during the years 1943-1944. I would like to have seen the depth of their bond further developed in the story by revealing more of their interaction while in Crystal City. This would have given more warmth and richness to the story, and also given credence to Elise traveling to see her after having been separated for so many years. Also, I don’t understand why Elise would knowingly fail to tell Pamela and Teddy about her travel plans and insist on making a solo journey to see her friend given her current difficulties. As the daughter of an aging mother who doesn’t think as clearly as she once did, I found this particularly troubling. I was saddened that Mariko apparently never pursued her dream of writing to any extent when it was a gift that was given to her. I disliked the notion that Elise reconnects with Mariko at the last possible moment. I suppose one could assume that Mariko was waiting for her to come before she surrenders herself to death, but still that seems a bit too contrived.

On the plus side, Elise is wonderful character, who learns to endure and thrive. I loved that Elise Dove devoted her adult life to projects to help others and taught her niece and nephew the value of caring for others. I thought it was very creative for Susan Meissner to have Elise nickname her Alzheimer’s disease after a thief from her childhood, Agnes Finster, because it steals her memories away. I appreciate that there are no loose ends left at the end.

My favorite quote from the novel is p. 234 “I was just beginning to understand that was a person’s choice that defined his or her identity and not the other way around.”

This is a touching novel. It tracks Elise Sontag whose father is interned as a Nazi sympathizer during WWII. He's not that, but neither he nor his wife became US citizens after they emigrated in the 20s. They family ends up an an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas, and there she becomes best friends with Mariko; her parent are there because they are Japanese-Americas. In the early months of 1945 the Sontags are repatriated to Germany (exchanged for Americans trapped there). During the final months of the war the family survives bombing and hunger. The war over, 17 year old Elise works in a coffee shop and there meets a young American soldier who she agrees to marry. Toward the end of her life she tracks down Mariko. I don't want to spell out the rest of the story. Read it to see for yourself. Parts of it feel Hollywood-arranged, but overall I found the story compelling. A solid good read.

I selected this book because I enjoyed “A Fall of Marigolds” so much. I had difficulty getting into this book and found myself skipping ahead because I was bored with the prose.

Spoiler-free review

Susan Meissner has a way of capturing characters from history that makes them feel so real. The Last Year of the War follows Elise Sontag, a German-American woman, from her teenage years during World War II to the present day, when she is an elderly woman with Alzheimer's. Her friendship with a Japanese-American girl, Mariko Inoue, is captured beautifully, but this is only one aspect of the story. By the time I finished, I felt I had lived Elise's whole life, and the journey took me into parts of history that are seldom talked about.

Susan Meissner writes unpredictable plots that don't fit into neat categories, which I love. I didn't know what was going to happen to Elise next. On the whole, despite the awfulness of WWII (which is not glossed over) this novel is life-affirming and hopeful. All the stars.

Bev recommended this book.


This was unlike any other WW2 book I read. This addresses Germans in America who who were questionable. The father of this story has 5 things he wished he had done differently.

The inspiration behind this book was "The Train to Crystal City: FDR's Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America's Only Family Internment Camp During World War II. This book doesn't have a high rating, but I have to listen to it anyway. [I enjoyed "Train to Crystal City]

Maybe more of a 3.5. I feel like it lasted forever and I wasn't really interested until the end. The end was a little drug out + anticlimactic. However, I feel like I finally got involved at the end.

I always enjoy historical fiction, specifically, when I don’t know about an event related to bigger historical happenings. I did not know native Germans, who were immigrants to US- some became citizens- were placed in internment camps during WWII. I thought only Japanese were.

This story was well written and I enjoyed the main character Elise Sontag very much.

4.5 stars

What an unbelievable story of friendship in so many different forms. This book brought to light some aspects of WW2 that I had not read about. I was not familiar with much about the internment of US citizens and residents during WW2.

I will admit that this book seemed a little long-winded to me so that is the only reason that I did not give it a full 5 stars. The last 1/3 of the book really picked up. I didn't want to put the book down.

Susan Meissner again brings us a wonderful story that is also thought provoking. One of several passages that continues to stick with me was "What made the three men different was how they chose to think. We decide who and what we will love and who and what we will hate.We decide what we will do with the love and hate. Every day we decide. It was this that revealed who we were, not the color of our flesh or the shape of our eyes or the language we spoke."

I received an ARC from NetGalley. All thoughts & opinions are my own.