Thursday, December 29, 2016

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly


Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

Lilac Girls is the story of how three real women lived through World War II. The women are Caroline Ferriday of New York City, Kasia Kuzmerick of Lublin, Poland, and Dr. Herta Oberhauser of Germany. I want to reiterate that these were real women and the general story is factual.  I understand that this is a first novel for this writer. It is amazing in almost every way, character development, time line, plot, and ending. The research for this novel must have taken years and much effort.  I gave it 5 stars although it was very difficult for me to read. I find books about the brutality and inhumanity of the Nazi death camps unbearable. If I had realized that much of the book is set in Ravensbruck before starting to read it, most likely I wouldn't have started it. However, once started, it was impossible to put down. While the horrors of the camp is never far from the story, there is also kindness, humanity, and some redemptive resolution.  Truly an amazing first novel. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very hard as my husband's Mothers family were killed in Germany