When We Meet Again

Kristin Harmel

Jun 2016 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Harmel, a beautifully repackaged and updated edition of “one of her best” (RT Book Reviews) historical novels.

Emily Emerson is used to being alone; her dad walked out on the family when she was a just a kid, her mom died when she was eighteen, and her beloved grandmother has just passed away as well. But when she’s laid off from her reporting job, she finds herself completely adrift…until the day she receives a beautiful painting of a young woman standing at the edge of a sugarcane field under a violet sky. She recognizes the woman as her grandmother, but the painting arrived with no identification other than a handwritten note saying, “He never stopped loving her...”

Curious, Emily begins to do some digging and uncovers a fascinating moment in American history. Her trail leads her to the POW internment camps of 1940s Florida, where German prisoners worked for American farmers...and sometimes fell in love with American women. But how does this all connect to the painting? The answer to that question will take Emily on a road that leads from the sweltering Everglades to Munich, Germany and back before she’s done.

This new edition has been refreshed by the author and contains a new author’s note, along with a teaser of Harmel’s next historical novel.

Ratings and reviews

When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel is a novel that takes us on a journey back to 1943. Emily Emerson is a journalist who was just laid off from work. Emily is at a low point in her life. She is alone (by choice) and out of work when she receives a package. When she opens up, she finds a painting. The package is from Germany and is a watercolor painting. It portrays a woman in a field wearing a red dress. The woman in the painting looks like her grandmother, Margaret. Is it her grandmother? Why was this painting sent to her and why now? Margaret passed away two months prior. It seems that Grandma had some secrets she never shared with Emily. The painting takes Emily on a journey into the past. Emily will travel to Munich, Germany, Belle Creek, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia in her search for answers. Emily will be given a chance to reconnect with her estranged father. Can she forgive him? More importantly, can Emily forgive herself for something she did when she was eighteen? Join Emily on her journey in When We Meet Again. Kristin Harmel is what I call a descriptive writer. She provides great details (and is a little long winded). The writing is good but I found the pace to be slow. The novel is interesting (good concept), but I was never drawn into the story. The book drags on a little too long (I think it felt that was because the pace was so slow). The lesson in the novel is about forgiveness of others and of one’s self (easier said than done). I give When We Meet Again 3.5 out of 5 stars. The romance in the book was sappy (best word to describe it) and artificial (felt fake). I believe you have to like the main character in order to enjoy the book, and I just did not like Emily. She has so many issues that she comes across as someone in her 20s (not her real age of 36). I have to quit reading stories that take place during World War II. I have yet to find one that is enjoyable (and I have read a lot of them during the past year) and believable. This book was just not for me. I received a complimentary copy of When We Meet Again in exchange for an honest review. The opinions and comments above are strictly my own.

I loved that book.

About the author

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.