Release Date: February 2, 2021

About The Book:

April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.

Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin’s silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin’s odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn’t right. 

Then one early-spring evening, a stranger at the door sets in motion a transforming chain of events. Sophie discovers hidden ties to two other women. The first, pretty and pregnant, is standing on her doorstep. The second is hundreds of miles away in the American Southwest, grieving the loss of everything she once loved. 

The fates of these three women intertwine on the eve of the devastating earthquake, thrusting them onto a perilous journey that will test their resiliency and resolve and, ultimately, their belief that love can overcome fear.

From the acclaimed author of The Last Year of the War and As Bright as Heaven comes a gripping novel about the bonds of friendship and mother love, and the power of female solidarity.

About The Author:

Susan Meissner is the USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction with more than half a million books in print in fifteen languages. Her novels include The Last Year of the War, a Library Reads and Real Simple top pick; As Bright as Heaven, which received a starred review from Library Journal; Secrets of a Charmed Life, a 2015 Goodreads Choice award finalist; and A Fall of Marigolds, named to Booklist’s Top Ten women’s fiction titles for 2014. She is also RITA finalist and Christy Award and Carol Award winner. A California native, she attended Point Loma Nazarene University and is also a writing workshop volunteer for Words Alive, a San Diego non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth foster a love for reading and writing. 

Visit Susan at her website: www.http://susanmeissner.com and on Twitter at @SusanMeissner or at http://www.facebook.com/susan.meissner.

Book Blurbs: 

“Ingeniously plotted and perfectly structured, this captivates from beginning to end.” – Publishers Weekly.

“The  novel is fast-paced and suspenseful…” – San Francisco Chronicle

“Vividly rendered in the chaos and mass destruction of the historic earthquake, Meissner’s latest is a testament to the strength and solidarity of women in crisis.”  – Library Journal

“Meissner’s latest is her best yet, an ultimately uplifting story of strong women and found family.”  – Booklist

“In The Nature of Fragile Things, the talented Susan Meissner spins a mysterious web of lies, love, and loss that accelerates toward the inevitable: the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which struck during the early hours of a seemingly ordinary April morning. Meticulously researched and utterly immersive, with an intimate mystery that unspools with increasing urgency, The Nature of Fragile Things will have you racing through the chapters to the shocking, satisfying end.” — Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names

“[A] poignant story about found family and a deft psychological thriller with shocking twists. Meissner is a masterful writer and this is a terrific tale that takes us on a harrowing cable-car ride through early 20th century San Francisco where dark secrets–like the city itself–crack wide open, forcing our world-weary heroine to confront the devastation done by the lies she’s been told and by the lies she’s still telling.” — Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of My Dear Hamilton

“Another beautifully imagined historical novel from Susan Meissner, in which she takes the reader on an emotional journey to the devastating events of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Written with great tenderness, and driven by the unstoppable force of the three intriguing women at its heart, this is a novel to savor, and one to share with all the women in your life whom you admire.” – Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of When We Were Young & Brave