Brandeis Book and Author Luncheon 2015 to feature four San Diegans. Susan Meissner will be joined by first-time authors J. Elke Ertle, Michelle Gable and Kelly Parsons. Three newcomers to the book publishing world will be joined by long-established Poway author Susan Meissner at Brandeis’ Book and Author Luncheon next month. Written by staff reporter Elizabeth Marie Himchak, the following article appeared in the Pomerado News on February 19, 2015.

The annual fundraiser, set to start at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, March 10 in Bernardo Heights Country Club, will feature Michelle Gable (“A Paris Apartment”), Dr. Kelly Parsons (“Doing Harm”) and J. Elke Ertle (“Walled-In”), who are first-time published authors. Meissner, who has appeared at the luncheon before, will talk about her novel “A Fall of Marigolds” and serve as moderator.

Tickets are $55 per person, on sale through March 5. For a registration form, call Leslie Goldstein at 760-317-1819. Bernardo Heights Country Club is at 16006 Bernardo Heights Parkway in Rancho Bernardo.

Goldstein, the luncheon’s chairwoman, said up to 100 attendees are expected based on previous years. There is typically an even mix of Brandeis National Committee Rancho Bernardo Chapter members and book-lovers in the community.

“I think they’ll really enjoy this event,” Goldstein said, adding this time all four authors live in San Diego County.

The luncheon that includes a book signing is expected to go into mid-afternoon. It is a fundraiser for the scientific research and scholarship fund at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Brandeis Book and Author Luncheon 2015 – left to right: luncheon chair Leslie Goldstein with this year’s featured authors J. Elke Ertle, Dr. Kelly Parsons, Susan Meissner, Michelle Gable – photo by Elizabeth Marie Himchak

Gable, who has been writing since childhood and works in the finance industry, wrote “A Paris Apartment.” According to her website, the novel was inspired by an apartment in Paris that was locked up from the time its owner left right before World War II started, until 2010 when her heirs sought to inventory and sell its contents, valued in the millions.

The apartment was unintentionally frozen in time when its owner left, never to return. For her fictional novel, Gable has April Vogt, a Sotheby’s continental furniture specialist, travel from the United States to Paris to see what contents at the apartment are of value. In the process she uncovers the deceased owner’s secrets, recorded in letters and journals, and learns more about herself.

Parsons, a urologist and University of California San Diego faculty member, has written the novel “Doing Harm.” According to his website the book is about Steve Mitchell, a happily married husband and father in line for a coveted position at Boston’s University Hospital.

Mitchell’s world turns upside down after he botches a major surgery and another patient mysteriously dies. He learns the death is caused by a sociopath who views murder as a game and has information that could destroy his career and marriage.

Ertle’s book, “Walled-In: A West Berlin girl’s journey to freedom,” is an autobiography. According to her website, she was born and raised in the British sector of West Berlin during the Cold War. The restrictions on physical movement within the city, due to the Berlin Wall, and the rigid rules imposed by her parents bore many similarities in their effects on her life.

After befriending an American military family and surviving due to the Western Allies’ Berlin Airlift, she became interested in moving to the United States, which she did at 21. She is now retired from a career in the public sector and teaches exercise classes.

Meissner’s “A Fall of Marigolds,” her first novel picked up by a mass market publishing house, debuted last year. Similar to her other historical novels, it revolves around two women a century apart who are intertwined by an object. This time it is a scarf with a beautiful marigold design.

The characters are Clara, a young nurse who survives the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and sees the man she loves jump to his death to escape the blaze. Her story is juxtaposed with that of Taryn, who was outside the World Trade Center on 9/11, where her husband was trapped on the top floor of the North Tower. In the aftermath, both must choose how to recover and come to terms with their concept of love.

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For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.