by Marthat Hall Kelly

I love historical fiction! Often, after reading a great historical fiction novel, I want more information and that will leads me to finding non-fiction books and articles on the same subject. That is what happened with this well written novel.  I recently received an ARC of the book Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. It is a wonderful book that will be published later this spring. I also reviewed this book on Goodreads and Facebook.

Lilac Girls is an amazing book that will draw you in immediately. It  focuses on three women, Caroline, Herta and Kasia,  during WWII.  Caroline is a New York socialite with French ties who works for the French Consulate to provide care packages  for French orphans.  Kasia is a Polish teenager whose work with the underground resistance gets her sent to Ravensbruck, the Nazi concentration camp for women.  Herta is a woman doctor who finds that Germany isn’t ready for women doctors so she can’t find a job.  When she sees an ad for a doctor at the Ravensbruck camp, she jumps at the opportunity,  not realizing the horrors she will soon be facing.   But Herta is a true German dedicated to the Reich and she soon becomes involved with  medical experiments on Polish teenagers.

The book”s chapters alternate between the three women and each chapter ends with a cliffhanger. The reader must keep reading to find out what has happened to each character. I thought this was a great literary device because it kept me reading.  I had to find out what was going to happen to each character!  Meticulously researched and based on true characters and events,  this book was  almost impossible for me to put down.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book for an honest review.