Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have strong mixed feelings after reading Martha Hall Kelly’s debut historical novel “Lilac Girls.” It took me considerable time to warm to the novel and its characters, but by the time I finished it, I felt pleased with what I’d read. I felt I’d spent my time reading something worthwhile, enjoyable, and uplifting. I was planning to give it a strong four-star rating. But then I read the “Author’s Notes” at the end and did a little investigation into the lives of the real-life characters covered in the book. Unfortunately, the more I read, the more I started to dislike the novel and wish I’d spent my precious time reading something else. Let me explain. “Lilac Girls” is a work of historical fiction “inspired by the life” of a real World War II heroine, Caroline Ferriday. The book focuses in particular on her work (a decade after the close of WWII) to help the surviving “Ravensbrück Rabbits.” These were a special group of approximately seventy Polish women who survived internment by the Nazis in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. They were special because they had been used in that facility for inhumane medical experimentation. Following the War, they returned to the Poland (which eventually became closed off “behind the Iron Curtain”); there, they continued to suffer without adequate medical attention for their physical and psychic war wounds. Caroline Ferriday heard about them and spearheaded a philanthropic program (a decade after their release) that was successful in bringing thirty-five of the surviving women to the United States for intense medical and (posttraumatic stress) psychological rehabilitative treatment. The author tells Ferriday’s story by creating a work that seemed, at first reading, in every way like a historical reenactment, but I later discovered that the bulk of content was almost entirely fiction! The book is structured as three interwoven first-person narratives. Primarily, it is the story of American socialite and heiress Caroline Ferriday’s life. Secondarily, it is the story of Kasia Kuzmerick, a fictional character who the author invented as a composite of many Polish Ravensbrück Rabbits. In a minor way, the book also takes on the first-person narrative of real-life Nazi Doctor Herta Oberheuser, the surgeon who performed the inhumane medical experiments on the Ravensbrück Rabbits. Chronologically from 1939 through 1959, we follow each of these three characters’ lives in interwoven, frequently cliffhanging chapters. I’d say 50 percent of the text is devoted to Caroline’s story, 40 percent to Kasia’s and only 10 percent to Herta’s. Why did I like this novel? Primarily, I took pleasure in the author’s writing style as well as the historical importance and terrifying drama of the events. Specifically, I liked the way Kelly was able to put me inside the period and settings. She made me feel like I was there. It was fun being part of New York high society in the pre-WWII era, brushing shoulders with the fabulously wealthy, as well as famous actors, politicians, and socialites of the day. And when the novel placed me inside the Ravensbrück concentration camp, I was able to begin to understand (and, of course, deeply empathize with) the horrendous misery, fear, and pain that those women had to endure. In the beginning, I was hesitant to read the book because I knew it was about Nazi medical experimentation; I assumed it might be a gut-wrenching literary experience…and, yes, parts of it were. But I have to emphasize strongly that the book very successfully balances those atrocities with plenty of uplifting stories about the women, their everyday lives, and their romantic entanglements. As a result, most of the book actually celebrates the good things that women do to support each other emotionally and physically…especially when the need is urgent. It was this celebration of women’s goodness toward each other that made me love this book and want to give it a high rating. So why was my good opinion of this book completely upended after I read the “Author’s Notes” and did some historical research on the subject? Basically, I was offended that Caroline Ferriday’s life as an extremely active and significant lifelong philanthropist was not enough to “carry” her story….that the author felt she had to make up a world-renowned, extraordinarily handsome lover for Caroline and focus almost all of her story about Caroline on the ups and downs of that fictional relationship. Ferriday was a woman of exceptional integrity and intelligence, a woman who dedicated her life to major philanthropic projects. Even though she was an American, she was awarded two of France’s highest civilian honors for her tireless dedication to better the lives of French war orphans. Even though she had enough inherited wealth to luxuriate in a life of total pleasure-seeking, she chose to work daily, hard and long, at high level unpaid jobs for volunteer and philanthropic agencies. In my research, I could find absolutely nothing about her love life. Despite the fact that she was quite beautiful, she never married. In that era, she was called a spinster. Would Caroline have been happy with this fictional account of her life? Somehow, I don’t think so. I think she’d be shocked that her whole life had been turned into something she wouldn’t recognize. Can’t a great woman be celebrated for her deeds and not artificially made interesting only in relation to the men in her life? I was also disappointed to learn that Kasia, the Ravensbrück Rabbit character, was a fictional composite. Yes, indeed, her story made the book fascinating and taught me much about what happened to these women. But, when I thought back on the major events in the novel, and particularly those at the end, I felt robbed and emotionally manipulated. Lastly, I felt that Kelly’s treatment of Dr. Herta Oberheuser was ineffective at best and misleading as worst. If I hadn’t learned more about the true history behind this novel, I’d have given it a strong four-star rating. But with what I know now, two stars makes my point.