Three Words for Goodbye: A Novel

In 1937, estranged sisters Clara and Madeleine Sommers learn their grandmother Violet is dying. They agree to her final wish: travel across Europe together to deliver three letters—Violet's goodbyes to people she hasn't seen since her own European journey forty years earlier. Clara views the trip as an inconvenient delay before her wedding to millionaire Charles Hancock, though she welcomes the chance to pursue her love of art. Madeleine, an aspiring journalist, sees it as an opportunity to report on the rising threat of Hitler's Nazi party and Mussolini's control in Italy. As the sisters travel aboard the Queen Mary, the Orient Express, and through Paris and Venice, they frequently clash. A shocking family revelation brings them closer, but old tensions resurface when they reach Vienna to deliver the final letter. With political tensions mounting across Europe, they board the Hindenburg for their return journey home, where fate determines the outcome of their voyage.