If you enjoy Historical Fiction, especially books about the World War II era, you may want to read “Lilac Girls” by Martha Hall Kelly.  The Tuesday Afternoon Book Club met in April to discuss the book.

Its 1939 in New York and socialite, Caroline Ferriday works at the French Consulate.  In Europe, Hitler’s army invades Poland in September and then sets its sights on France.  An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia, a Polish teenager, senses her youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role in the underground resistance movement.   Herta Oberheuser, a young German doctor sees an ad for a government medical position and believes it is her ticket to advancing her medical career.  Once hired she finds herself trapped in the male dominated world of the Nazi secrets and power.  The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when Kasia is sent to Ravensbruck, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. The horrors of the concentration camp, medical experiments, and lives lost take the reader to Germany during World War II.   The stories of the three women cross continents – from New York, to Paris, Germany and Poland, as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.  

In “Lilac Girls” Martha Hall Kelly has written a remarkable novel of women and their quest for love, freedom and second chances.  The story weaves the lives of 3 different women together in a way difficult to imagine.  The book is well researched and based on actual events in history. Stop by the LeRoy Public Library to pick up a copy today.  Remember, many books are available in an audio copy for listening if your busy life doesn’t have time for reading.