I have always imagined that the hardest part of writing a book is deciding where to start and determining that first line the reader will read: 𝙄𝙛 𝙄’𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤’𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙖-𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖, 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙞𝙣.

How’s that for imagery? Never have I heard heartbreak described in such a beautiful, classic way.

The novel follows Caroline Ferriday, a New York philanthropist volunteering her time at the French Embassy during WWII; Kasia Kuzmerick, a young Polish girl held captive by the Nazis at the all female Ravensbrück concentration camp; and Herta Oberheuser, the only female doctor at Ravensbrück. 

The novel switches point of view between those characters with every chapter. There is always a place where the chapter leaves you hanging, and you have to get through someone else’s chapter before you can get back to where you were. It helps create the suspense of the story, and this happens many times in Lilac Girls.

Though the reader is taken on some detours, the story centers around the Lapins, or Rabbits, experimented on at Ravensbrück. Kasia becomes one of those Rabbits, and you follow her harrowing journey of survival and recovery. Caroline, who championed the cause of helping orphans in France during the War, is contacted about the Rabbits and takes on their cause as well. This brings the two women full circle to Oberheuser.

As with most books set in this time period, there will be parts that are very difficult to read. There are love stories amidst the trauma, and there is the trauma of the love stories themselves. Toward the end of the novel as Caroline and Kasia are tending to the lilacs, Caroline tells her, “𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙘 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙨 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙝 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧…The horrors faced by those in camps, the sacrifices made to protect them, the decisions to do what is right in the face of death, and the forgiveness after it all.

A copy of Lilac Girls is available for purchase at our shop!
-Lindsay