Lilac Girls
Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Pages: 512
This is the story of several woman. Caroline - a New York socialite at the height of the second world war who works at the French consulate. A world away is Kasia - who is a polish girl who one day is living a comfortable life style and then the next in a concentration camp simply by being Polish. The last - Herta - who is a doctor who is assigned to work at a concentration camp an experiement on the prisoners.
Their worlds collide during the war. Kasia is sent to Ravensbruck, where Herta is a doctor. She and 1000 other women (who were known as "rabbits") became science experiments during the 4 years they were in the camp. Herta - feeling that her duty first was the Germany and Hitler, performs these surgeries and experiements without hesitation.
When the war ends, Caroline finds out about the "rabbits" and decides she wants to invite the women to America for better health care. She writes an article hoping that the war has still left some good in the American people, and asks them for support for these women. The response is overwhelming, and Caroline is able to bring a large group of the women to the US. Kasia and her sister are among those who are able to travel. Caroline learns what it was like for these women inside the camp at the hands of Herta.
Caroline and Kasia strive for justice for these women and all the women who died in these camps and work together to make sure that the world does not forget what happened.
This was a great work of historical fiction. I enjoyed it even more when I found out that Caroline and Herta were real characters and the information in the book was acurate. Kasia's character was also based on another true to life survivor of the Ravensbruck camp.
What happened to the women in this camp was horrific. I have read many WWII novels, and each one tells us another part of the story. I had no idea that prisoners were experimented and left with life altering injuries or even killed like animals. The depth of the horror and the evil doesn't seem to have a bottom.
Check this book out. It is another look, with true pieces thrown in, at WWII.
Stars: 4 1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment