Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Reviewed by: Becky Houghton, Reference Assistant
Genre: Historical Fiction
Suggested Age: Teens, Adults
What this book is about: Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this is a powerful novel narrated by three women of the time. Caroline Ferriday, a New York socialite and volunteer employee at the French Consulate; Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager; and Herta Oberheuser, a young German doctor, tell their stories of life from 1939 to 1959 during World War II and its aftermath. How the lives of these three women intersect creates a heart-wrenching and frightening picture of the events in Germany, Poland, France and the United States during this time. This book is based on the actual lives of these women, although Kelly acknowledges that the dialogue throughout is of her own making and the details of Caroline’s romance with a married French actor are her invention. For the most part, however, this book is factual which makes it a powerful description of the horrific events during and after the war.
My Review: This book is fantastic, horrifying, spell-binding, depressing and compelling all at the same time. The lives of the narrators and how their lives collide in wartime Germany at Ravensbruck, the only Nazi concentration camp for women, is frightening and riveting. The bravery and courage of Kasia, a Polish teenager working for the Resistance when captured, inspires the reader. The cruelty and the choice to ignore the circumstances surrounding her at the Nazi camp combine to make Herta an unsympathetic and disgusting character. Caroline, throughout the story, is a strong, courageous advocate first for French orphans and later in the story for the “Ravensbruck Rabbits” as those who the Nazi doctors used for experimentation became known. This is a complex and horrifying look at the actual occurrences during the Second World War and its aftermath. I found this book difficult to read at times due to the horrific nature of the story, but I could not put the book down. It is an extremely well written story covering an important and often forgotten segment of women’s history. A must read.
Three words that describe this book: Horrifying, Compelling, True
Give This a Try if You Like… Women in the Resistance and in the Holocaust by Vera Laska or Ravebsbruck by Sarah Helm
Rating: 5/5
About FDL Reads
FDL Reads is a series of weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library.
