A Fall of Marigolds

 A Fall of Marigolds describes a scarf that is at the center of two different tragedies, taking place nearly 100 years apart. Susan Meissner use this to connect a story of loss at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 and the terror attacks in 2001 that brought down the World Trade Center towers.

In 1911, Clara is a nurse in New York City when she witnesses the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and suffers what she perceives as a great loss. She signs up to be a nurse on Ellis Island, so she can be in New York, but at an in-between place, that doesn't hold the meaning of Manhattan. There she meets an immigrant wearing the beautiful scarf. Clara learns that the scarf holds many secrets.

In Manhattan in 2011, approaching the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Taryn learns that there's a photo of her in People magazine wearing a scarf (the scarf) that she had just picked up from a client earlier that morning. Had she not picked up the scarf, more than likely she would have perished in the attack.

The dual story lines sounded very much up my alley, and even as I read the novel, I was interested to see how the two stories would be connected. In the end, the novel fell flat for me. It was more romance than historical fiction. There wasn't much to Taryn's story and while Clara's story was more compelling, it lacked something for me that I can't really specify. As to how the two stories connected in the end, I think I expected more.

This novel has gotten high praise in Renee's Reading Club, the group I belong to on Facebook, so it does hold a lot of appeal for others. But for me, it was just okay. A quick, easy, fluffy read. Which makes me wonder - how can a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and 9/11 seem fluffy?