Lilac Girls: A Novel (Woolsey-Ferriday)
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 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
From the Publisher
Praise for Lilac Girls:
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Publication date : February 28, 2017
Language : English
Print length : 576 pages
ISBN-10 : 1101883081
ISBN-13 : 978-1101883082
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.21 x 1.14 x 8 inches
Part of series : Woolsey-Ferriday
Best Sellers Rank: #11,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #66 in Historical World War II & Holocaust Fiction #77 in World War II Historical Fiction #457 in Literary Fiction (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (56,912) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Original price was: $18.00.$9.41Current price is: $9.41.
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 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
From the Publisher
Praise for Lilac Girls:
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Publication date : February 28, 2017
Language : English
Print length : 576 pages
ISBN-10 : 1101883081
ISBN-13 : 978-1101883082
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.21 x 1.14 x 8 inches
Part of series : Woolsey-Ferriday
Best Sellers Rank: #11,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #66 in Historical World War II & Holocaust Fiction #77 in World War II Historical Fiction #457 in Literary Fiction (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (56,912) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
7 reviews for Lilac Girls: A Novel (Woolsey-Ferriday)
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Original price was: $18.00.$9.41Current price is: $9.41.
Kristin B. –
A Beautiful Novel about Three Very Different Women During WWII
Even though I own a lot of books that I still haven’t read, I’m always on the lookout for new novels that suit my main reading interests of historical fiction and contemporary romance. I came upon this book based on some of my recent purchases and was immediately drawn to it because I have read a number of novels that take place during WWII, most recently The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I originally hesitated in purchasing this book because it is a bit more expensive than books I usually buy but in the end, my interest and intrigue in it won and I found myself immersed in this incredible debut novel.Lilac Girls switches narration among three women whose different views do an outstanding job of shaping the story. It starts with Caroline Ferriday, a wealthy New York woman who volunteers for the French Consulate in the late 1930s, right before the start of WWII. Caroline and her mother love to help people and send boxes of necessities over to the children in France. While Caroline’s story mainly takes place in New York during the war, she becomes very instrumental towards the end of the story. Kasia Kuzmerick is a young Polish girl who is taken prisoner for being part of the Polish underground and sent to Ravensbruck, a women’s concentration camp in Germany. The last woman who narrates this novel is Herta Oberheuser, a young German doctor who is eager to get a decent job that will help pay for her family’s life. The choices she makes end up changing the course of her life forever.I am simply amazed that this novel is Martha Hall Kelly’s first novel because it is written so well, nicely researched, and the narrations by the three women really bring the story to life. Given the subject and time during which Lilac Girls takes place, a lot of the details and situations can be difficult to read but the author writes this novel in such a way that makes it easier to absorb. I love the fact that she gives her narrators, particularly Caroline and Kasia, a bit of humor and sarcasm when appropriate because it makes them seem more real. While this novel certainly isn’t funny, I feel those character traits help give those narrators more of a personality that get them through some of the darkest times. I found Kasia’s story to be most significant but Caroline’s and Herta’s stories are also extremely important because together, they shape Lilac Girls into a truly unforgettable read.Lilac Girls is an amazing novel and I am so happy I took the chance on it because I enjoyed every minute I spent with this book. Because of the subject matter, it isn’t a light-hearted read but Martha Hall Kelly’s writing style makes this book flow so well and I found myself looking up some of the persons in the novel. A number of the people in this book were real and this book is very well-researched and well-written. Many of the chapters end with a bit of a cliffhanger which definitely kept me wanting to read more. If you enjoy reading historical fiction novels that take place during WWII, I recommend reading Lilac Girls because it is very hard to put down and the changing back and forth between the three women narrators helps paint a picture of WWII from around the world and how they all impact each others’ lives.
Georgie –
Decent Read
I give Hall Kelly a tremendous amount of credit for writing this book as it’s a complicated story to put to paper. However, there are so many areas where there was opportunity to create greatness and instead she filled it in with storylines that didn’t quite bring everything to the full point of the true horror taking place.The story unfolds from the first person perspectives of Caroline Ferriday, a wealthy socialite, Kasia Kuzmerick, a fictional Polish prisoner and Dr. Herta Oberheuser, an ambitious, German female doctor.To begin, Caroline Ferriday was a real life person who was deeply involved in charity work particularly for children in France who were displaced to orphanages. In the book, she is a volunteer at the French Consulate in New York and almost immediately her charitable works become an afterthought. Though Hall Kelly has Caroline presenting very direct and important information regarding American’s reluctance to engage in the war, Hitler’s intentions to eradicate all Poles, a desperate desire to have the lock on visas lifted, the data gets lost in silliness. She falls for a fictional married French actor and her main story centers around him making her appear weak, pathetic and completely out of touch. Throughout the book, including the time when she finally becomes involved with the “Rabbits”, her character is sturdily encompassed in emotional reactions and not intellectual making her appear more like someone’s generous wealthy, “head in the clouds” grandmother than a thinking woman. Given the actual history of Caroline Ferriday, this didn’t seem to jive with the overall story. However, if the authors intent was to show just how out of touch Americans, particularly the wealthy, were when it came to the suffering in Europe in juxtaposition against Kasia story, then she succeeded.Kasia is the most interesting character and one with depth and full development. Kasia is a fictional person loosely based on the women who were the “Rabbits” at Ravensbruck, Himmler’s only all women camp during the war. The “Rabbits” were a group of women ranging in number given of about 30 to 70 who had been put through surgical experimentation using sulfa drugs. Kasia’s story regarding her own leg experimentation is fairly horrific but here again Hall Kelly seemed to decide to pull back on just how far she wanted to go. Though Kasia and her sister Zuzanna both face inhumane treatment, there’s no further discussion on what happened to many others with only veiled references to an area known as “the bunker” where we’re left to guess just how horrible it was. Not discussing or introducing other characters who had received even more horrific treatment didn’t fill in the gap of what really happened. In Kasia’s case, her leg had bone and muscle tissue removed and various objects such as glass and dirt along with bacteria sewn into her leg. Other “Rabbits” had actual amputations some done without the use of morphine. When Kasia and her sister finally make it out of Ravensbruck, her story of anger, bitterness, anxiety attacks are all very well written making her a very believable person.Lastly, there’s Dr. Herta Oberheuser who from the very beginning is a sociopath. Also a real life person, she’s immediately made out to be a completely damaged individual with ambitions to become a surgeon but has no apparent human feeling about being a doctor. She also has no sense of self worth as depicted in a rather disgusting moment between herself and her uncle. The only time she shows any human emotion is when she makes a small gesture to Kasia’s mother in the camp and later when she cries for a moment upon meeting Kasia years later.One of the areas of the book I found annoying was the dialogue used to tell a moment. Three times in the book, this is distinctly there and comes across as false in descriptive detail like the speaker had suddenly become the author.Overall the book is a good read and recommended for the effort made in trying to take the reader to each place and experience the times and the moments faced by each character.
Iris Hart –
This book I found to be masterfully written, three diverse women’s stories that alternative and interweave so that the reader cannot put down the book for want of finding out what happens next for each of them. Given the subject matter, I couldn’t imagine how the author could ever find the words to describe such extremes of torture and cruelty. I think it is extremely important for people to become aware of this horrible and gruesome Nazi practice and also of the kindness of those who helped victims however they could.
Roopa –
the story really has everything.i was taken to world war times, as a reader i enjoyed every character in the book.
Patrick Ducklow –
History in a novel format. Lovely and upsetting on each page. Inhumanity to women by women and men is what war is. Don’t read it on the beach; you risk feeling indulged and self-absorbed.
Lee W –
Dislike – the title and the cover picture. Both do not do justice to the story.Like – the inside story of a number of Holocaust victims from pre war to years later. The book detailed the true happenings of women used in concentration camp experiments and their lives afterwards. Well written and engrossing and well worth reading.
Murf61 –
The Lilac Girls features 3 women: a Polish teenager, a young German doctor, and an American socialite. They all played a part in WW2, and their lives are forever changed by their experiences during this turbulent period of history.Kasia is arrested by the Nazis for her involvement with the Polish resistance and sent to the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp with her mother and older sister. There she undergoes experimental surgery, performed by Herta as part of a Nazi research programme. Meanwhile in the US, Caroline raises funds within her high society circle to provide practical assistance to French orphans. After the War, Caroline hears about the Ravensbrück ‘Rabbits’ and brings them to America for medical treatment to help repair the damage done to their legs by the experiments.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though it was harrowing at times. The 3 women are very different in both personality and experience, yet it was easy to identify with them. Their character and strength (or lack of it in Herta’s case) drive the story forward to conclusion. The author’s comprehensive research shines through, particularly as both Caroline and Herta were both real people, only Kasia is fictional, but based on an actual victim of the Ravensbrück experiments. The supporting cast are well drawn and provide context for the main characters.The Lilac Girls is a fascinating insight into a little known story of Nazi experimentation, and shows us how Kasia’s experience at Ravensbrück continued to have both a physical and emotional effect long after the end of the war. Caroline is the catalyst for Kasia’s healing process and despite her privileged background, she sacrifices her own personal happiness to assist others. As for Herta, well, you will have to read the book to find out what becomes of her. A gem of a book, I would recommend The Lilac Girls to anyone with an interest in WW2 history told from a female perspective.