NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One million copies sold! Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this remarkable debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances. “Extremely moving and memorable . . . This impressive debut should appeal strongly to historical fiction readers and to book clubs that adored Kristin Hannah’s that adored Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.” —Library Journal (starred review)
New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.
An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.
For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.
The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.
USA Today “New and Noteworthy” Book • LibraryReads Top Ten Pick
“Harrowing . . . Lilac illuminates.”—People
“A compelling, page-turning narrative . . . Lilac Girls falls squarely into the groundbreaking category of fiction that re-examines history from a fresh, female point of view. It’s smart, thoughtful and also just an old-fashioned good read.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“A powerful story for readers everywhere . . . Martha Hall Kelly has brought readers a firsthand glimpse into one of history’s most frightening memories. A novel that brings to life what these women and many others suffered. . . . I was moved to tears.”—San Francisco Book Review
“[A] compelling first novel . . . This is a page-turner demonstrating the tests and triumphs civilians faced during war, complemented by Kelly’s vivid depiction of history and excellent characters.”—Publishers Weekly
“Kelly vividly re-creates the world of Ravensbrück.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Inspired by actual events and real people, Martha Hall Kelly has woven together the stories of three women during World War II that reveal the bravery, cowardice, and cruelty of those days. This is a part of history—women’s history—that should never be forgotten.”—Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of China Dolls
“Profound, unsettling, and thoroughly . . . the best book I’ve read all year.”—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
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Unforgettable & inspiring! This tale is told from the viewpoint of 3 different women: NY socialite & aid worker Caroline Ferriday, Polish teen Kassia & German doctor Herta Oberheuser. For me, Caroline’s story sparkled & I found myself enjoying those chapters the most. This story is solidly lodged in history & very evocative of each setting. I listened to this as an audio book & the women reading truly brought these characters alive for me. Great story!
Loved this book!
Hard to read because of the difficult subject matter, but definitely worth it. Great writing.
An amazing book about WWII. It was horrifying to see what cruelty man commits against their fellow man but was also inspiring to see how the main characters overcame such horrors. A must read.
One of my favorite books!
I have recommended this book to everyone I talk to. This is one of the best historical fiction/based on fact novels I have read. Looking at the atrocities of the Holocaust from the different perspectives portrayed in the book is eye-opening. This book is well worth the read!!!
One of the best books I’ve ever read.
I loved this book! I was drawn into all of the voices and I appreciated how well Martha Hall Kelly was able to set the scenes so well as the chapters jumped from person to person. As an avid reader of WW2 books, I enjoyed how this novel tackled this story from a unique perspective.
The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
April 2016
I rarely find a book worthy of 5 stars. I am always optimistic that I will read something more amazing.
Although I have read many powerful stories regarding life during World War II, from various viewpoints and countries, none have moved me as deeply as “The Lilac Girls.” The notes from the author at the end of the book provided insight into her journey and extensive research for this novel.
The story is told with three primary narrators from different “worlds” literally and figuratively. Caroline is a debutante socialite living between New York and Paris who has taken up the cause of helping orphaned children in France before the war changed everyones’ lives. Kasia is another narrator living in Poland before the German occupation. She was enjoying a rather simple life with family and friends until plucked out and sentenced to Ravensbruck, Hitler’s only major concentration camp exclusively for women. The third narrator whose story is weaved into the fabric of this novel is Herta, a proud German doctor who staunchly followed orders to maintain loyalty to the Reich and Furthur.
The author weaves the stories brilliantly as one would a fine basket with the end result breath taking at final presentation. Truly a pleasure to read and highly recommend it. It truly is an unknown story about the extraordinary efforts of Caroline Ferriday, a true heroine to the Polish “Rabbits” who survived their ordeal in the concentration camps. I am certainly compelled to learn more about the real characters depicted in the book.
I had this book sitting in my TBR pile since it’s release date. Now I wish I hadn’t waited so long to read it. It’s a phenomenal work of historical fiction that really helps one to visualize what the women of WWII went through. I learned more about them than was ever taught in our world history classes at school in the 60s & 70s. This story had me looking up more about Caroline Ferriday, the Rabbits, and Ravensbruck. Very well written. It kept me interested through the whole book. For a first time novel, it was fantastic. I’m looking forward to her next novel.
Lilac Girls was loosely based on actual women in various countries during World War II. One is a German doctor, one works for the French embassy in America, and the last is a Polish woman taken to a concentration camp. The story follows them over a period of many years. I like how the book shows what happens to the ladies after the war ends. The book also shows how their three lives intersect. While painful in many parts, I believe it is important to read about what happened in our history so we do not repeat it. This takes an important historical lesson and humanizes it with the stories of the three women. Definitely not to be missed!
Anyone who reads World War II Historical Fictiion.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
I read Lilac Girls when it first came out in 2017 but never reviewed at. This is Book 1 of the Woolsey-Ferriday story and what a wonderful story it was. This is historical fiction at its finest. Martha Kelly tells the story of Caroline Ferriday and her life pre-World War II.
Caroline is working at the French consulate. Kasia is a teenager in Poland. Herta is a German doctor. These three women are thrown together when Kasia is sent to Ravensbruck and Caroline is seeking justice for the many.
Martha Hall Kelly does a fascinating job of weaving together the stories of these women. Her words keep you turning the pages and wanting for more. This is history told in a manner I have never seen before. I did not want Lilac Girls to end but it helped knowing there would be two more books in the series.
08.31.21
I read a lot of Holocaust books but this one is unique in that the characters, the victims were not Jewish. It therefore gave me a new perspective on the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis.
WWII survivors
Martha Hall Kelley’s page-turning novel, a historical fiction that spans from 1939 – 1959, braids together three compelling first-person narratives about women in the throes of World War II. We meet a hero, victim, and villian as Matha shares the complexities of each of their lives: loves, loss, hope, despair, triumphs, and choices – which at times were difficullt, limited, or non-existent.
1) Caroline Ferriday, the real life heroine that inspired the book, was a former Broadway actress and New York City socialite turned philanthropist who volunteered at the French Embassy and was involved with the Association des Déportées et Internées Résistantes to provide relief to French orphans. She had a complex affair with a married French actor. Among Caroline’s heroic accomplishments is that she brought Polish women who were subjected to cruel Nazi medical experimentation at Ravensbrück concentration camp to America for treatment.
2) Kasia Kuzmerick, a lively teenager in Lubin, Poland with a mad crush on her best friend, begins to work with the Underground Resistance. Her efforts to help save others results in her imprisionment by the Gestapo at Ravensbrück, (“Hitler’s Hell for Women”), the largest concentration camp for females in Nazi Germany. She was taken along with her mother, Helina, and her sister, Zuzanna, neighbors and friends. Kasia is a conglomeration of prisoners and the only one of the three main characters that is not based on a real person.
In her story, the Nazi doctors removed nerves, bone, and muscles from Kasia’s leg, resulting in unrelentng pain and disability. Due to being injured as a Nazi lab animal, she hobbled and hopped like a rabbit, which is why the female victims at this sadistic prison were called “Ravensbrück Rabbits.” There is nothing more despicable to me than “doctors” putting innocent women under anesthesia and surgically assaulting them for their own twisted purposes.
3) Herta Oberheuser, was the real life Nazi physician and war criminal who worked at Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps. At Ravensbrück, Oberheuser was assistant to Karl Gebhardt, then Chief Surgeon and Heinrich Himmler’s personal doctor. There, Herta gave lethal injections, sent women to gas chambers, and performed grotesque, inhumane experimental surgery on the Polish political prisoners. “Doctor” Oberheuser deliberately inflicted surgical wounds and then rubbed bacteria, wood, rusty nails, and slivers of glass in the open areas trying to cause gangrene. The goal was to emulate combat wounds of German soldiers to find a cure for their war injuries.
Herta Obenheuser was tried at Nuremberg where she was sentanced to twenty years, but let out in five. I disagree with this little “hand slap” for this contemptuous person.
I found Lilac Girls by reading samples from one hundred books on Amazon, mostly historical fiction. Martha’s writing rose to the top as I immediately connected with her style. I’m glad I choose this book, which is a deeply moving page turner with descriptions so vivid I felt as if I were in the story. I enjoy the author’s use of metaphors, her sharp storytelling skills, and choice of subject. I finished reading this last week; the story has stayed with me.
Lilac Girls; a novel by Martha Hall Kelly is narrated by two women who actually lived through the times and experiences described and a third character who is a combination of several other real life accounts. The story takes place in New York City, and war torn Europe. Stringently researched, the story is narrated by three women; an American philanthropist, a German doctor supporting and performing medical experimentation on prisoners, and a member of the Polish underground sent to Ravensbruck. The atrocities and inhumanity of Hitler’s followers on the people of Europe is horrible to read but important to remember. The book is well written, the plot lines and protagonists come together during a twenty year period, and the narrative vehicle is effective.
Interesting how they came to meet
I procrastinated reading this book for a while, and boy was that a mistake. Kelly builds an incredible amount of suspense with the perspectives of three female characters that intertwine them at gorgeous sections and places some of the minute suspense-inducing details into the readers’ hands. I can’t express enough how much this book piqued my interest from start to finish, and its length was just perfect, leaving me with the right amount of questions and no fluffy filler at the end. For anyone in love with history as much as I am, definitely pick this one up- it’s earned a prominent spot in my bookcase.
I had great hopes for this book, but it did not get even mildly interesting until I was almost halfway through.