The other, now that her husband is away at war, is her son, Max. One of the things that keeps her going is her friendship with Eliza, her soulmate during their years together in school in France. She is ill-prepared for the 1916 uprising that demolishes the family estate and leads to incredible suffering. Sofya Streshnayva Afonovich, directly related to the Romanovs, has been surrounded by wealth and raised in splendor. This book also contains insane cruelty, but because it is free from death camp horrors it seemed less malevolent to me.Īlongside the historic Ferridays, Lost Roses concentrates on two other fictional families, the Streshnayvas and the Pushkinskys. I found Lost Roses to be a kinder novel than Lilac Girls, however, because so much of Kelly’s first novel occurred in Ravensbruck, a horrendous Nazi internment camp. The other main characters are imagined composites of women who suffered more directly from the perils of war. The Ferriday women, Americans drawn from real life, remain relatively untouched but contribute mightily from afar. How do women, especially well-to-do women, cope when war utterly transforms their families and their fortunes? Kelly chooses three particular women as central to her thematic constant. Thematically, both of Kelly’s novels center on a difficult subject. Eliza Ferriday set the standard for her daughter, working nonstop to help White Russian women marooned after World War I, setting up committees and organizations to find places for the women to live and situations where they might earn their livelihoods. Just as Kelly fictionalized Caroline’s not-insignificant accomplishments, now she has re-imagined the equally impressive achievements of Caroline’s mother.

Lost Roses is Martha Hall Kelly’s prequel to Lilac Girls, a novel I previously (and enthusiastically) reviewed for “Bookin’ with Sunny.” Caroline Ferriday, featured prominently in Lilac Girls, was a real-life debutante and socialite who worked tirelessly to help European children orphaned during World War II and who advocated for the punishment of Nazi war criminals following the war.

Lost Roses – The American Ferriday women (of the Lilac Girls) are again involved in helping women and families displaced by the devastation of war.

Lost roses review