Beautiful weaving together of stories from vastly different viewpoints: the good, the bad, the ugly. Set in World War II and over the decade and change after it, the stories of three women unfold and gradually intertwine. Excellent storytelling, well-defined characters with assets and flaws, an enjoyable reading experience. ( )

This book left me with many emotions. The evils and injustice that were the narrative of the lives of the prisoners during Hitlers reign are enough to snap breath from you. I confess that it took me a minute to get into this book. Felt it challenging to follow the characters at first although that may have been more my issue than the authors. But as I got going, I spent every free moment reading. My favorite part of this book is the hunger it gave me to know more. To look up the real-life bios of the characters that the author spoke of. I agree with one reviewer that Caroline could have had a little more depth in the novel as she was an amazing woman. The high society topics were my least favorite yet I came away from the book wanting to know more about the woman in the midst of it. To think that this was a first-time novel is mind blowing at best. So well done. I can't wait for the next one! I liked that this gave me a good experience with historical fiction because I have a hard time with the genre and this book made me more interested and curious so it was a win win for me. ( )

I chose this book because I enjoyed The Nightingale. Lilac Girls was good but significantly more graphic than The Nightingale in the horrors of this era and listening to it in an audiobook made it more difficult to get through the 'tough' spots. I am glad I continued the book when I wasn't sure if I could and look forward to researching the nonfictional portions of the story further. ( )

read 2023

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 Martha 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 imprisonment 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 unrelenting 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. ( )