Map of the Heart: A Novel

Written by Susan Wiggs

Narrated by Christina Traister

Love and family. War and secrets. Betrayal and redemption.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs returns with a deeply emotional and atmospheric story that spans oceans and decades, from the present-day Delaware shore to the battlefields of WWII France.

Widowed by an unspeakable tragedy, Camille Palmer has made her peace with the past and settled into the quiet safety of life with her teenage daughter Julie in a sleepy coastal town. Then the arrival of a mysterious package breaks open the door to her family’s secret past. In uncovering a hidden history, Camille has no idea that she’s embarking on an adventure that will utterly transform her.

Camille, Julie, and Camille’s father return to the French town of his youth, sparking  unexpected memories — recollections that will lead them back to the dark days of the Second World War. And it is in the stunning Provençal countryside that they will uncover their family’s surprising history.

While Provence offers answers about the past, it also holds the key to Camille’s future. Along the way, she meets a former naval officer who stirs a passion deep within her — a feeling that she thought she’d never experience again.

“Susan Wiggs seamlessly melds historical drama with contemporary romance,” raves Mary Kay Andrews. Now, this hugely popular author has created her biggest, most powerful story yet — a beautiful and heartfelt novel that celebrates the bonds of family and pays homage to the sacrifices of the past.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Aug 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062425522

Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends, and fiction. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, and commutes to her writers' group in a motorboat. She is an international bestselling author, and her books have appeared in the #1 spot on the NYT bestseller list. The Apple Orchard has been made into a film, with others in production. Susan loves hiking, skiing, and surfing, but her favorite sport is reading a book.

Reviews for Map of the Heart

[geauxgetlit · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy this authors work typically, she is heartfelt and writes with such emotion.
This book Camille was developed well and gave me all the feels.
Lizette, during WWII, however for me was hard for me to read. It was painful and anguishing.
Many people love all the emotions in a book and if this is you, you need to read this one!

[Stella Simone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story takes place in different decades, many stories connect the destinies of the characters

Photography is at the center of the story

[pamjw · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Camille's life has been on shut down since the tragic death of her husband. She has concentrated her efforts on keeping her daughter safe, and in doing so achieved the opposite.The arrival of a parcel for her father from France throws up a mystery, which in setting off to solve resolves a lot more issuesThis book has a really slow start, by the time they set of to France I really didn't care what happened to them. It picks up a bit in the middle then meanders to it's inevitable ending. It passed the time, but didn't make me care..

[love2cook-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Advance Reader's Edition free copy from a Librarything drawing. For me to read and review. An interesting story of love and love lost. The telling of a family in war torn France and the descendants in America. The tracking down of lost family members. The trials of being a teenagers with a single mother who has lost her first love in a tragic accident. The finding that it's possible to love again. Loved the characters and the interaction between them. This is an emotional story. It flows back and forth through time from present day back to the time of World War II in France, where it all began. A very good read. I liked it a lot. 

[bettysunflower · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well written, great characters and a wonderful plot. Camille Palmer has seemingly survived the death of her husband and has her life well in hand. However, her daughter started having issues with school and her friends, Camille was shocked to find out that her daughter was the recipient of mean bullying behavior. Camille's father seems better able to handle the issue, but he was still recovering from cancer and wanted the three of them to visit his boyhood home in France. There is a lot of action in this book, but the author presents it well so it is also very easy to read, understand, and follow the characters as they fill out the story line. I found this to be an excellent and most enjoyable read.

[amyvandyke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A never forgotten story of love is seamlessly woven into a modern day twist of fate- as healing and hearts intertwine. One of Susan’s best!

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs is a 2017 William Morrow Publication. A pleasant family saga and romance-This dual timeline story features Camille Adams, a woman scarred by a tragic loss, her daughter, Julie, who is suffocated by Camille’s over-protectiveness, and Camille’s father, Henry, who is recovering from cancer. When Camille meets Malcolm ‘Finn’ Finnegan, a historian, they get off on the wrong foot, but soon find themselves thrown together when Henry insists Camille and Julie accompany him to France. From there the story shifts back to world war two, revealing incredible family secrets directly affecting Henry. Meanwhile, Camille helps Finn recover an old roll of film that could explain what happened to his father in Cambodia. While Susan Wiggs has an impressive back catalog of novels, for some reason, despite enjoying her work, I’ve only gotten around to reading a handful of them. In fact, this one has been sitting on my TBR list for several years. I’m not sure if this is one of her best efforts, to be honest, but I did enjoy the historical mysteries, and I really liked the characters in this one. Camille’s personal growth, which eventually allows her to consider falling in love again, takes a bit longer to develop, but everything works out nicely in the end. The backdrop is an added bonus, giving the story a very romantic atmosphere. Overall, this is an enjoyable story with a fresh WWII plot-line, and a sweet, contemporary story that brings everything together quite nicely. 3.5 stars

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars.

Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs is a beautifully rendered, poignant novel that mainly takes place in the present but also flips back in time to World War II in order to solve an intriguing family secret.

Camille Palmer Adams was at one time fearless and adventuresome as she embraced love and life without reservation. However, five years ago, in a heart-stopping instant, a tragic loss changed her into a woman who now refuses to take risks and rarely steps out of the sedate, safe life she has created with her fifteen year old daughter Julie. After experiencing another life-altering moment, Camille becomes aware that she has somehow overlooked some important changes in her daughter.  Will this stunning realization allow her to see past her own fears in order to allow Julie the freedom to spread her wings and enjoy life to the fullest? Or will Camille continue to let her past to shape her future?

Camille is quite close with her father, Henri Palmer, who left his small town in the French countryside to emigrate to America. As an American who romanticizes and idealizes the French, I immediately turned to my husband and asked, "why would a Frenchman abandon an idyllic life in FRANCE to permanently move to the United States?" The answer to that question stretches back to World War II and the beautiful, brave woman who refused to allow the Germans to defeat her after they invade her small country village.

In Map of the Heart, Susan Wiggs seamlessly weaves these two seemingly disparate story arcs into a heartwarming novel of healing and love. The novel's picturesque settings spring vibrantly to life and readers will have no difficulty visualizing the coastal town of Bethany Bay or the bucolic French countryside.  The characters are multi-dimensional with true to life human frailties and foibles that make them easy to relate to as they attempt to make peace with their respective pasts.  I absolutely adored and highly recommend this captivating novel to fans of the genre.

[sdbookhound · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have enjoyed Susan Wiggs books since discovering her Lakeshore Chronicles series. This book, however, is not a part of that series and is a stand alone. Map of the Heart had many of the things one would expect from a book of its genre. There is a romance, conflicting feelings between the main characters, and the expected happy ending. This book also contained some surprises that were welcome and it also had some unique elements such as the main character being an expert in bringing to life old forgotten film/photography. Part of the story also takes place in France and contains a secondary story from WWII. All of these elements made for an enjoyable read. I would recommend this book to friends, especially those who enjoy this type of novel. Thank you to Library Thing Early Reviewers for the opportunity to read and give my opinion of Map of the Heart.

[bibliodiction · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love the beauty found in this book. The locations are described in vivid detail. The people are full of love.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Nothing truer could be said of families wanting to discover their own truth. Long-lost photos may hold the key to decades-old questions. Photos may also cause new questions to arise.

Truth and honesty can be difficult to express with those we love because we love them. We don’t want them to feel the hurt caused by certain truths so they remain hidden. We tell ourselves we are saving them from unnecessary pain.

I love the way this story unravels. The families living in the present were led back in time with each clue they found, while the families in the past moved forward, living each day as best as they could. Each tentative step carefully taken until both meet at absolute zero. The truth is discovered.

This book alternates between the present and the past. In the present, we learn the backstory of each family group, and are introduced to the concept of second loves. First loves are significant, but second loves can also lead to untold happiness. The underlying story is of Camille coming to terms with allowing her own second love to flourish. In the past, we are taken to South France during WWII. We are to learn how Henry came to be. We follow his mother, Lisette, as she finds the man who is to be her second love.

The story comes to an end with a completion of the circle. The film roll that started it all, the roll that was ruined, paves the way for the final second chance.

[marciablnc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked the World War 2 story woven throughout the book. Another story of a woman overcoming heartbreak from her husband's death.

[jbarr5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Map of the Heart by Susan WiggsCamille Adams, a photographer and I love hearing about her craft.The film is Malcolm Finnemore's and he has a very old film strip that he wants digitized. She loves the challenge.While doing the work the call from ER that her daughter, Julie is there and she's on her way...her doctor husband had died in the water...Story also follows Finn, history professor in Provence, France who's a volunteer with historic cemetary-chronilogging things left on headstones.He's looking for his father still when his sister came across the unexposed film of things his dad had taken...Interesting what draws them together and the link they have...Love hearing of the locations and all the photography things all the mystery things they find and investigate. This book is so much more detailed than the authors other works I've read-like her style but this takes the cake and icing. So much research has gone into this book and story is told in such a nice way.Conflict with weight and interesting how the grandfather is the one to console his granddaughter from his own experience.Book goes back in time to her father's parents growing up in France during the war and what they have to do to survive.Problem for me is going back to the past and then forward to the present and future, several times. Wish it just had started in past and brought us up to date.Not sure which section I like the best as they are all woven together.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[belvaw_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars. This book is part romance, part historical fiction. It is a good story and an easy read. Sit back and enjoy. My thanks to the publisher and Library Thing for providing an advance copy of this book.

[conkie_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is full of surprises. Other than an HEA ending, I didn't see most of them coming. I might have rated the story 4.5-5 stars but for the slow beginning, slow build up to revealing how the major and minor storylines intersect, and the "relatively" short wrap up to ending the book. I wished the book had undergone another edit; with it, this might have been one of the best books written this decade. Period.

[booksandbutter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Susan Wiggs did it again. She is so great at the summer beach read. I was drawn in by the characters. They were well developed and the story was great. I would definitely purchase and I will be re-reading!

[tealadytoo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story follows the fortunes of Camille, a young widow with an adolescent daughter. She has changed from an adventurous, fun-loving woman to an overprotective, timid one following the death five years prior of her husband in a freak accident. She will be forced out of her shell by the issues her daughter is having bullies, her beloved father's health issues and an intriguing man bent on capturing her heart. There is also a secondary flashback story of the WWII romance of her father's French mother.This is a lovely summer beach book. Warm and engaging, with the lovely and exotic setting of the south of France. It's predictable, and the outcome is all tied up neatly with a bow, so it's a not a book that will make a long-lasting impression. But it will provide the reader with a very relaxing and pleasant vacation.

[susan0316 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been a long time reader of Susan Wiggs and this is my favorite book by her. It's a wonderful story told in a dual time line with characters that readers can identify with. The settings in France are beautiful and the plot keeps the reader interested until the last page. Camille and her teenage daughter, Julie, live by themselves in a small town and both are still mourning the loss of their husband/father five years after his death. Camille used to be brave and fearless but since her husband's death in a climbing accident, she wants to live safely in her own little bubble and (much to her daughter's dismay), she wants to keep Julie in the bubble with her. A mysterious package sent to her father from his family in France, starts the three of them on an adventure to find answers to all of their questions about her father's parents. The second story line is the story of Camille's grandparents in France during WWII. These story lines are told simultaneously and when they meld together at the end, the secrets are revealed. This is so much more than a typical love story - it's a perfect blend of a love story and historical fiction and is a fantastic book to read. I highly recommend it.Thanks to librarything for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

[kmt01_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As can be expected from this author, all of whose books I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, this is another fantastic heartwarming read about two women who struggle to overcome the vestiges of their past memories as they move on in the world. Little does Camille Palmer, an accomplished photographer, widow, and mother of Julie, know how a trip her elderly father takes her and Julie on to his native France will transform both of their lives. Camille still mourns her dead husband, Jace, and has not reconciled his death, even after years. Julie is a young girl going through the throes of adolescence, as she emerges into womanhood. Because Jace is gone, Camille hoovers over Julie a bit too much, stifling the young girl, though Camille does not even realize it. On her part, Julie finds herself maturing slower than others in her group at school and has become the outsider, the butt of the bullying jokes and pranks of the group she used to hang with. Julie has not told her mother of her problems, so Camille is totally surprised when she finds out. Then, Camille’s father confides that he also was bullied while a youngster in a small town in France post WWII because of his father’s traitorous actions during the German occupation of his small town. Finally, Camille’s inability to move on since Jace’s death has left her vulnerable in love, when she meets Finn, a former Naval officer turned professor teaching in France who is also helping families of lost soldiers find their loved ones and reconcile their own pasts. Finn turns Camille’s head and life upside down, as she also turns Finn’s life around. Camille’s father convinces her and Julie to accompany him to France to check out the property he owns as well as reconcile memories he has of his life there. This trip and the secrets/mysteries they discover totally upends their lives, as family secrets and histories are found through a myriad of clues at the old family farmstead. In the book, we watch these two women and the family patriarch delve into a past filled with subtle nuances and secrets no one ever imagined existed. In addition, the addition of Finn in Camille’s life brings out new feelings and possible hopes for a bright, different future.I absolutely loved this book. The story wove its way through WWII years and today with ease and smoothness. I was pulled in from the very beginning. The author, true to form, has woven a fantastic story about two lives and how they manage to find answers as well as support and love in each other and their families. I loved watching Camille and Julie grow as they found answers to and meaning in their own lives. In addition, it was fascinating to watch the true story of Camille’s father’s own life unfold, with its ups and down and uncovered family secrets. Finally, the love story/romance between Finn and Camille was an additional, wonderful part of this story to watch as it developed and grew. This is a fantastic book, and will become one of my favorites by this author. The characters are realistic and well done. I loved seeing strong women in Camille and Julie, who meet and take on the challenges life sends them, working toward resolution without wavering. This book will appeal to any reader who enjoys a good, strong romance with a little bit of added mystery. If I could give it more than five stars I would have. I received this from Library Thing to read and review.