Minnesota-based author Loretta Ellsworth delivers a tender, atmospheric story that brings 1948 Minnesota to life through the eyes of Roza Meszaros, a young Hungarian countess whose world has been reshaped by war. Released Jan. 13, 2026, “The Jilted Countess” is inspired by a real Minneapolis Star newspaper story (the precursor to the Star Tribune), imagining Roza’s journey from war-torn Europe to St. Paul, where she arrives expecting to marry the American GI who once promised her a future. Instead, she finds herself alone, disoriented, and facing deportation unless she can forge a new path—fast.
Ellsworth paints St. Paul (and later, rural Minnesota) with affectionate detail—from Union Depot’s echoing platforms and the buzz of the Lexington Supper Club to the lush warmth of the Como Conservatory and the sprawling fields that stretch toward Red Wing’s bluffs. These stops ground the story in a deeply nostalgic vision of postwar America, capturing the rhythms of a simpler time, even as the shadows of global conflict linger.
Roza herself is a compelling narrator—wide-eyed yet resilient, caught between youthful romanticism and the hard-earned maturity that comes from surviving wartime loss. At times, the romance edges toward the juvenile, a reflection less of the writing and more of Roza’s own emotional arrested development after years of trauma and displacement. That innocence, however, makes her journey toward agency and belonging all the more affecting.
Immersive, heartfelt, and cinematic, “The Jilted Countess” is a beautifully imagined tribute to resilience, reinvention, and the unexpected places where a new life can begin.
“The Jilted Countess” by Loretta Ellsworth, $30 (Hardcover), HarperCollins, 304 pages
