Meissner delivers another mesmerizing masterpiece in As Bright As Heaven. The beginning of the story immediately draws the reader into a tragedy that every parent dreads. Pauline faces this tragedy with a numbness that I believe I would feel as well. As a result of this, Pauline and her husband accept an opportunity that will move the family to a new city. I found Pauline to be a woman of strength and fortitude. I like how Meissner tells her story through the different viewpoints of Pauline and her three daughters. Decisions made in the midst of tragedy can have far-reaching consequences that shatter the illusion of stability. They each face the tragedies that are brought by the Great War and the Spanish Flu with a force that can only be strengthened by love of family. Meissner has spun a story rich with historical detail, one that reveals a much forgotten chapter of the extent of the human loss due to the Spanish Flu.