Lilac Girls(Lilac Girls,#1)

☆☆☆☆☆

lilac girls.
martha hall kelly.

Publisher  Ballantine Books.

Publication Date:April 5,2016.

Genre: Historical Fiction.

Format|Pages: Hardcover|487.

 Source:  Goodreads|Library.

 CONTAINS SPOILERS

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. 

 ☂

Heart wrenching, powerful, memorable story about three extraordinary women during World War II.



I don’t know how to start, how to begin to explain this story. It was…remarkable. LILAC GIRLS Is not a light read, and one of those stories that very disturbing at times, but at the same time you won’t be able to pull yourself away. LILAC GIRLS been on my to read list for a while, and I been hearing good reviews about it for some time. Once I started to read the book, I fell in love with story after only few pages. I could not get enough of Caroline, Herta and Kasia’s stories. Out of three of them, I think that Caroline and Kasia were my favorite. Kasia’s story touched me the most and was the hardest one to read. I read books about Holocaust before, but it has been a while since I did. Reading about Kasia, about what was done to them at the concentration camps, it reminded me and it broke my heart all over again. Couple times I did have to put the book down because of how descriptive it was, and I could picture it all. I teared up multiple times while reading the book. I was praying for Kasia, I was hoping she would find a way to get out of there, alive. How can you lead a normal life, after such horrific experience? I know that I wouldn’t be able to. It is horrible what happened back then, and how they were treated. How could anyone think that it was okay?



I tried to like Herta, but I couldn’t. How could she think how she experienced on that girls at the concentration camps was okay? How could anyone? I agree with Kasia, that she should served her entire prison sentence, and that she shouldn’t be able to practice medicine after that. How could anyone let her after what she done? How many died because of what was done to them? She was one character that I did not like at all. I was actually hoping that she would get caught, and that she would go pay for her crimes. After that ending, I wonder if she might end up back in jail once again. LILAC GIRLS is a story that I won’t be able to forget, a book that I actually recommended to few of my friends. I could tell that MARTHA HALL KELLY did a lot of research for this book, I could tell by all the details. I could actually picture it all, I could imagine happening while I read the book. I can tell why it’s so loved. I know that MARTHA HALL KELLY will be one of authors that I will love for years to come. I am excited for her next book, LOST ROSES already.



Astonishing, breathtaking debut novel. A must read.