Book Review - Lost Roses

 

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In this exciting prequel to Martha Hall Kelly's best-selling Lilac Girls, we follow the lives of Eliza (Caroline Ferriday's mother) and her two friends from Russia-Sofya and Luba Streshnayva.  Sofya and Luba are cousins of Tsar Nicholas II and although all three women have grown up in privilege, they all have a strong desire to help others.

Background

Like Caroline Ferriday from Lilac Girls the characters in Lost Roses are real people from history.  Martha Hall Kelly did meticulous research to make sure her facts were correct and then built a wonderful work of historical fiction around events from history.  This second book in the Lilac Girls series takes place in 1914 in the days leading up to and during the Bolshevik Revolution.

Plot Summary

The book begins as Eliza Ferriday from New York City is going to visit her good friend Sofya in St. Petersburg, Russia.  They had met years before in Paris and become good friends.  Even though it is 1914 and the world would seem to be on the brink of war, Eliza is excited for her trip and a visit with her good friend.  She arrives safely and all seems to be going well till there is word that they must flee the city because of the revolutionaries are nearby and are trying to overturn all the wealthy ruling class.  Eliza sails home to New York and Sofya and her family escape to their summer home in the countryside.

While they are in their summer home they hire a local fortuneteller's daughter, Varinka, to work in their household.  This turns out to be a very bad decision. As time goes on the revolutionaries kidnap the family and keep them captive in an outbuilding of the family's luxurious summer home.  The storyline continues and keeps us on edge as we wonder how the family will survive and will they escape to Paris as they hope.

As the story continues, we see the ways both Eliza and Sofya work in these troubled times to help those in need.

I found this book to be very interesting.  Martha Hall Kelly has a way of making her characters come to life and I found myself reading into the night to find out what would happen next.

Book One of the Series

The first book in the series, actually chronologically comes after Lost Roses.  It is set in a World War II time frame and features Eliza's daughter Caroline.  It too was a very compelling story that I had a hard time putting down.

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