I truly enjoyed this book, the author covers a time in history that I haven’t read much about! It’s the. 1950’s when McCarthyism was happening . During “The Red Scare” McCarthy was convinced that communists had infiltrated our government, the Army and even the entertainment industry that included Hollywood’s screenwriters and actors. We meet three main characters whose lives cross each other and forever change.

Melanie- has finally gotten her big break in Hollywood she left her small roots back in Omaha and she’s suddenly blacklisted when she was seen in the company of “suspected” communists. Not able to find any work she’s staying at a rented home in Malibu so I hide from the paparazzi.

June - is Melanie’s next door neighbor in Malibu, after the death of her husband she is caring for her brother-in-law Elwood, an accomplished screenwriter he suffers from agoraphobia after a horrible car accident.

Eva - is a young Polish immigrant she is hired as Melanie’s housekeeper and cook. She’s hiding many secrets one is in which she hoped to leave behind when she started her in new life in the US.

The story takes off when When Melanie and Eva find Elwood's sister in law June digging in the garden before dawn one morning, the two become suspicious and concerned for Elwood's wellbeing. Is Elwood sinking deeper into agoraphobia, or did something nefarious happen? As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it’s a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke…

I loved everything about “A Map to Paradise” by Susan Meissner. I am a huge fan, and I highly recommend this memorable, emotional and thought-provoking novel to others. The Genres for this novel are Historical Fiction, Mystery,Suspense, Thriller, Adult Fiction, Friendship Fiction, and 20th Century Historical Fiction. The timeline for this story is set in 1956, and the setting is in Malibu California. This is the time of the Hollywood blacklist. In this well written novel, the author vividly captures the beautiful scenery, and describes her colorful, suspenseful and dramatic characters. The three women characters that reside on Paradise Circle in California are Melanie Cole, a blacklisted actress, the housekeeper Eva, who is harboring secrets, and the neighbor June, who is the sister in law of an agoraphobic writer.

Melanie and Eva notice that June is working in her brother-in-law’s garden with beautiful rose bushes. Although he doesn’t leave the house, he often will talk through the window to Melanie. When Melanie hasn’t spoken to June’s brother, she wonders where he is. Somehow, the unlikely trio of women seem to be connected by mystery and suspense.

I appreciate how Susan Meissner discusses the historical implications of the Hollywood blacklist, mental illness, displaced persons after the war, the importance of friendship, communication, honesty, trust, love and hope. I highly recommend this captivating and intriguing novel.

Malibu, California 1956

Page turner!

Three strong female characters. All with insecurities and a search for belonging. Melanie is a Hollywood actress that has been blacklisted for her ties to a suspected Communist. Melanie's housekeeper Eva is a displaced person from Europe. Widow June is caretaker for her screenwriting brother-in-law that won't leave his house.

Melanie and June are neighbors with a tepid relationship. Meissner expertly reveals bits of their pasts while also delivering a compelling 1956 storyline. Events unfold and soon it each of their lives are spirally out of control.

Highly recommend this historical novel featuring heroines from different historical events. There is a small amount of foul language.

A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner is a captivating exploration of the consequences of impulsive decisions, the significance of redemption, and the transformative nature of discovering one's sense of belonging. This compelling novel kept me engrossed from beginning to end.

An outstanding historical fiction novel about three women overcoming their own tragedies with the strength of their friendship. The character development is superb and really helped me connect to these women. It’s a “quiet” book - I was slowly drawn in and had to keep reading because I felt like I really knew the characters. It would make an excellent book club pick and discussion!

This is a new to me author and I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open for future work, as well as catch up on the backlog!

Thanks so much for the opportunity to read!

Oh how excited I was to get this one. I have come to love the authors writing and her way of sucking me into the storyline. I still think of “only the beautiful” and it’s been over a year since i read it.

This one was about 3 women and their secrets that take the story into a mystery and family story. It’s an interesting premise and I normally love an old Hollywood type story. Unfortunately this ended up just being a “like” instead of a “love”.

It was just missing a little something for me. The storyline had great promise but felt a bit flat.

I do appreciate the gifted copy because I still do love her books

A Map to Paradise was a pretty great read... some suspense, some drama, a little bit of mystery, and some great female bonding.
The ending left me with all the feels, I love how the storylines were wrapped up.
It's the 1950's and young up-and-coming starlett Melanie Cole has found herself on Hollywood's blacklist, due to her association with another actor. While she's hiding out in Malibu, she befriends Elwood, the screenwriter who lives next store. Then Elwood seems to be gone, and Melanie is curious, and concerned. She gets her maid involved, trying to get in the house next door to find out if Elwood is ok. The maid, Eva, bonds with Elwood's sister-in-law who is his caretaker; then Melanie comes in and the three form a great friendship.
Sure, you will wonder, for awhile, what happened to Elwood, and that's what originally drew me to the story, but I stayed for the great friendship these women built together. Their bond was palpable. I loved it. Easily a 4 star for me because of that.

I really enjoyed this story. It’s understated and quietly impressive. It’s not heavy on plot, it’s more about the lives of the three women at the center of the story, explored through an interesting and mysterious situation that unfolds.

I was very impressed with Susan Meissner’s writing. It has a simple and quiet beauty to it that I loved. And her ability to hold my interest through this slower paced story is commendable. This was the first book I’ve read by Meissner, but I will definitely be reading more in the future.

If you like historical fiction set in the 1950’s, character lead stories, and books that explore female friendships you should definitely give this book a try 😊💛

A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner is a very good standalone novel. The story begins in Paradise Circle in Malibu, in the 1950’s. Melanie Cole is a young starlet, who because of her actor boyfriend has been suspected to be communist, and blacklisted; with Melanie also is on the radar of the McCarthy hunt. Carson, the actor, sets her up in a house, all expenses paid, including a maid. Melanie is lonely, and she chats through open windows with her next-door neighbor, Elwood; who is a famous screen writer.

Eva, the maid, comes 6 times a week, and is a Polish immigrant, who also has her own secrets. Eva not only is the housekeeper, but she also cooks. Eva plans to stay working for Melanie, since she keeps her secret immigration past.

June is Elwood’s sister-in-law, and one day both Melanie and Eva spot June, digging in Elwood’s beloved rose garden. Melanie finds this odd, as Elwood never leaves the house, and they both become suspicious and concerned for Elwood's wellbeing. Since she has no contact anymore with Elwood, Melanie gets Eva to spend half her workday with June, helping doing housework; in order to find what’s happening with Elwood. Eva cannot find anything, without her trying to look into his room. But soon, June becomes an ally to Eva, sharing their secrets. Melanie tries to get more information pertaining to Elwood, she suspects that something has happened to him.

We do learn that Elwood, was in an accident years ago, causing someone’s death, which caused his life to change. As Elwood got older, he suffered from severe illness; with June being the one who typed and changed all of his writing. Melanie will discover that Elwood was dead, but she will learn that he committed suicide.

Unexpected secrets are revealed for each of the three women, which will eventually lead into an alliance, and the start of a friendship. Each of the three women have different life experiences; Melanie being an actress, Eva, the polish maid who hides her immigration secrets, and June, who became a successful screen writer.

A Map to Paradise was a wonderful story of friendship, secrets, resilience, trauma, tension and death. It was heartwarming to see the friendship grow between Eva, Melanie, and June. A Map to Paradise was a terrific page turner, that was very well written by Susan Meissner.

I have been reading Susan Meissner's books for a long time. She focuses on a variety of themes and I have enjoyed them all. It’s been interesting to watch her writing style evolve and character development perfected. In my mind, each book is better than the last one read.

A Map to Paradise is multi-layered and a little convoluted. In the beginning, as the storyline is being set up, it is a little slow. Then, it takes off. It takes place in the 1950s, one of my favourite eras.

The three main characters are women. Eva is an immigrant Displaced Person from Eastern Europe, Melanie is a budding actress with a successful movie under her belt and June is the sister-in-law of a successful screenwriter. As different as they seem at the outset, they become bonded friends as they help each other.

There are many interesting components to the plot. There is McCarthyism and the black listing of many top Hollywood names, agoraphobia, family strife, SECRETS (always necessary, in my mind), wildfires of Malibu, dead bodies and much more. It seems like a lot but evolves naturally.

The story has a Hollywood ending, as is befitting the storyline. There were a few happy surprises for this reader.

I appreciated the Author's Notes at the end. Kudos to Ms Meissner for the research she did to make the historical aspects of the story genuine. And, I love her description of the different but same meanings of Home to each of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner is an incredible work of historical fiction that I absolutely LOVED. This book gave me all the feels, in the best way possible.

The story is set in the 1950's. The author writes about McCarthyism during the Red Scare. I did enjoy the setting of Malibu, I felt as if I was right there and how different it was during this time period.

The three characters, Melanie, Eva and June are all excellent characters. This is a beautiful character driven story. The three women are connected in an unexpected way.

Melanie is a young actress that has been blacklisted by Hollywood because it is suspected that she was seen with a "suspected" communist. She is hiding out in a home in Malibu.
Eva is an immigrant who is Melanie's housekeeper. Lastly, June is Melanie's neighbor.

I absolutely LOVED learning about these three different women and what their lives are like during this time in the 1950's.

What a story, well written. A story of strength, courage, friendship and the ties that bind women together, no matter how different their lives may be.

Highly recommend!

Thanks to Berkley for an advanced copy of A Map of Paradise by Susan Meissner.

A Map to Paradise is set in 1956 Malibu in the middle of the McCarthy era and how 3 women and the secrets they keep come together.

This was more character driven then I usually prefer in historical fiction -- while it was well written and I enjoyed the story, it was slow for me.
I did like seeing how it all came together.

I love everything this author writes. The way the 3 main characters’ lives intertwine is wonderful to read as we
Watch their friendships develop. The historical backdrop was really interesting to me as well. There is also mystery and intrigue scattered throughout story which kept the pages turning. Highly recommend !

"1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle.

With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter's agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He's her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation.

Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood's sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don't see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone?

As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it's a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke..."

A little Rear Window vibe.

There seems to be something about books about the McCarthy Era that are tough for me to connect to. I love love love Messimer's works, but this wasn't my favorite. Maybe it is this time period, maybe it is my mood... still, the quality of the writing remains solid, so I've rated it as a 4 to try and separate my personal opinion from the quality of the book.

Thank you so much to Berkley for the gifted book!

I don't know what it is about Susan Meissner's writing, but it resonates so well with me every time. She truly makes reading fun and exciting for me and I just overall feel like she is one of the best storytellers out there!

The story itself was so interesting! It revolves around blacklisted Hollywood starlight, Melanie Cole and her agoraphobic neighbor, Elwood, who never comes out of his house. It's set in Malibu, California in the 1950s. I DO NOT think you should read the synopsis since it gives away a little too much (in my opinion), and I would have liked for some of that to be a surprise!

I loved literally everything about this book. The characters were multi-faceted, the setting was fascinating, the background was intriguing, and the story was full of the best kind of drama!

The writing isn't super fast paced, but it really worked for me and helped me slow down and really get to know these characters! There is so much depth to each and every one of them!

If you're reading this and you haven't yet read ONLY THE BEAUTIFUL by Susan Meissner, I BEG you to read it! One of my favorite books of all time!

This story, which takes place mainly in December of 1956, tells the story of three women who though outwardly very different find that they have a lot in common.

Melanie Cole is hiding out in a house supplied by her lover after both were blacklisted in Hollywood having been accused of being Communists. Melanie had just had her first success as a movie actress and received rave reviews for her performance. Now, she is distraught that her career has ended and that she has been wrongly accused of being a Communist.

Eva is a housemaid and a refugee from Europe after the second World War. She is claiming to be Polish but is actually a Volga German. Her family for some generations has kept their German language and culture while living in Russia. Eva was almost sixteen when her father, older brother, and sweetheart were arrested and sent to a gulag. She flees with her sweetheart's mother and sister to Germany and spends some years in camps for displaced persons until she finds a sponsor to help her emigrate to the United States.

June Blankenship lives next to Melanie's house where she cares for her agoraphobic brother-in-law who makes his living writing film scripts. Unknown to most, June has been her brother-in-law Elwood's script doctor for years while Elwood shuts himself in dwelling on the car accident that severely injured him and killed the woman he had fallen in love with.

When Elwood commits suicide, June panics at the thought of losing her only home and source of income and buries him in his beloved rose garden. Melanie, who has been using Elwood as a sounding board for her troubles, gets suspicious when he stops communicating with her. She sends her maid Eva to find out what is going on in the Blankenship home.

The three women agree to work together once they understand each other's needs. All of them are displaced in one way or another and all of them are looking for a home filled with love and security.

This was engaging historical fiction and was a great story of women's friendships.

Full review will be live here on March 19: https://novelpastimes.com/2025/03/19/book-review-a-map-to-paradise-by-susan-meissner/

Susan Meissner's new book explores secrets, friendship bonds, and the consequences of our choices all while whisking readers off to the 1950s in Southern California. It was a time when women were still limited in their choices to make a living, a time when the fear of communism was spreading, and a time when people still knew their neighbors no matter how odd or reclusive they may have been.

A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner

This is my third book by Susan Meissner and it's another good one for me. The story starts on Paradise Circle in Malibu and it's the mid 1950s, and up and coming actress, Melanie Cole, has been caught up in McCarthy's hunt for communists among the movers and shakers of Hollywood. Melanie is on the radar because of her role in a movie with a suspected communist famous actor. She and the actor have been fake dating (and real life hooking up) to add more interest in the movie. Once the actor is blacklisted, so is Melanie, and she's lost everything she'd worked so hard for, including a future movie role. The actor sets her up in a house, all expenses paid, on Paradise Circle. He even pays for a maid to come in six days a week and that maid, Eva, becomes one of the only links Melanie has to the rest of the world. She's cut off and alone and lonely and getting more disgruntled by the day.

Eva is a young Polish immigrant, a displaced person who has major secrets that could have her sent out of the US and back into a life she has fled. The life she had with her family has long been destroyed, there is nothing left for her where she came from and hopefully her hard work and trustworthiness can keep her off everyone's radar. The thing is that she is a danger to Melanie because of her secrets and Melanie is a danger to Eva because of the blacklisting. Each one can destroy the other just by the two women being connected in any way. But for now, Eva will stay where she is, especially now that she has gotten to know the next door neighbor, June.

June is the SIL of the next door home owner, Elwood. Something very strange is going on next door, El is missing in action, which is very odd since El never goes anywhere, not even leaving the house. Why was June pulling up El's beloved rose bushes? Now Melanie is allowing Eva to spend half her workday with June, supposedly to do housework. Instead, June becomes a great ally to Eva, as they share their darkest secrets with each other.

I adore all three women, each so very different but also each with so much to lose if their secrets are found out. As they work more and more together, with Melanie being the most reluctant of the three, I was rooting for them all the way. I love the way the story plays out, there is almost a fairy tale quality to the story, which fits in with how Hollywood can make or break dreams. I was able to read this book with DeAnn, check out her insightful thoughts on it in her review.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.

Set in 1956 Malibu, California, A Map to Paradise tells the intertwined stories of three women whose lives are shaped by fear, loss, and the search for belonging.

Melanie Cole is an up-and-coming movie star whose career takes a devastating turn when she’s blacklisted as a communist — not because of her own actions, but due to her association with a co-star. Forced into isolation, Melanie lives in a rented house paid for by the very man who caused her downfall. Estranged from her family and haunted by the long-time disappearance of her only brother, she feels trapped and adrift.

Eva, Melanie’s maid, is a displaced person who came to America under false pretenses after losing her entire family and her fiancé in World War II. Living in constant fear of deportation back to her communist homeland, Eva struggles to build a life. She also lives with a painful secret that might one day be uncovered..

June lives next door with her brother-in-law, Elwood, a screenwriter who has developed severe agoraphobia. June injures her back during the middle of the night while digging up rose bushes. Melanie becomes increasingly worried when she no longer sees Elwood in his yard.  When June refuses to let Melanie speak to Elwood, Melanie sends Eva to work part-time for June and Elwood.

As their lives intersect, these three women forge a tentative bond and begin to confront the fears that have kept them isolated. Through their growing friendship and shared resilience, they each search for a sense of home and safety in a world that feels hostile and uncertain.

The novel beautifully captures the importance of home — not just as a physical space but as a sense of belonging and security. Each woman’s longing for stability reflects the scars of their personal histories and the hope for a better future.

One lingering question remains, however: the epilogue leaves the mystery of Melanie’s brother’s second disappearance unresolved. A fuller exploration of his fate would have provided a more satisfying closure to this otherwise compelling story. I also found some parts of June's cover-up to be unbelievable.