Lilac Girls

2016-04-05 Fiction

Author : Martha Hall Kelly
Release : 2016-04-05
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 065/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Lilac Girls by : Martha Hall Kelly

Download or read book Lilac Girls written by Martha Hall Kelly. This book was released on 2016-04-05. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One million copies sold! Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this remarkable debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances. “Extremely moving and memorable . . . This impressive debut should appeal strongly to historical fiction readers and to book clubs that adored Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See.”—Library Journal (starred review) New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences. For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power. The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten. USA Today “New and Noteworthy” Book • LibraryReads Top Ten Pick

The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück

2022-01-20 Fiction

Author : Martha Hall Kelly
Release : 2022-01-20
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 355/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück by : Martha Hall Kelly

Download or read book The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück written by Martha Hall Kelly. This book was released on 2022-01-20. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For three women living through World War II, the threat of war poses very separate issues - that is, until their lives become intertwined in the most tragic of circumstances. New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate. But the privileged life to which she is accustomed is turned upside down when her lover suddenly and suspiciously disappears. An ocean away in Germany, indoctrinated young Herta Oberheuser is desperate to begin working as a doctor. She replies to an advert for a government medical position, yet only upon arrival does she discover the true extent of her horrifying new role. As the war advances, Polish teenager Kasia Kuzmerick is drawn deeper into the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbours, one false move can have dire consequences. Then the unthinkable happens: Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women where Herta now works, and her life is transformed into a desperate attempt to survive. As the women's stories coincide and span decades and continents - from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland - the devastation of Ravensbrück is ever-present, as Kasia and Caroline strive to bring justice to those history has forgotten . . . __________ 'Harrowing . . . Lilac illuminates.' People 'A compelling, page-turning narrative . . . Lilac Girls falls squarely into the groundbreaking category of fiction that re-examines history from a fresh, female point of view. It's smart, thoughtful and also just an old-fashioned good read.' Fort Worth Star - Telegram 'A powerful story for readers everywhere . . . Martha Hall Kelly has brought readers a firsthand glimpse into one of history's most frightening memories. A novel that brings to life what these women and many others suffered. . . . I was moved to tears.' San Francisco Book Review '[A] compelling first novel . . . This is a page-turner demonstrating the tests and triumphs civilians faced during war, complemented by Kelly's vivid depiction of history and excellent characters.' Publishers Weekly 'Kelly vividly re-creates the world of Ravensbrück.' Kirkus Reviews 'Inspired by actual events and real people, Martha Hall Kelly has woven together the stories of three women during World War II that reveal the bravery, cowardice, and cruelty of those days. This is a part of history--women's history--that should never be forgotten.' Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of China Dolls 'This is the kind of book I wish I had the courage to write--a profound, unsettling, and thoroughly captivating look at sisterhood through the dark lens of the Holocaust. Lilac Girls is the best book I've read all year. It will haunt you.' Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet 'Rich with historical detail and riveting to the end, Lilac Girls weaves the lives of three astonishing women into a story of extraordinary moral power set against the harrowing backdrop of Europe in thrall to Nazi Germany. Martha Hall Kelly moves effortlessly across physical and ethical battlegrounds, across the trajectory of a doomed wartime romance, across the territory of the soul. I can't remember the last time I read a novel that moved me so deeply.' Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers and The Secret Life of Violet Grant

The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück

2022-01-20 Fiction

Author : Martha Hall Kelly
Release : 2022-01-20
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 653/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück by : Martha Hall Kelly

Download or read book The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück written by Martha Hall Kelly. This book was released on 2022-01-20. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The phenominal million-copy bestselling novel for fans of The Beekeeper of Aleppo and The Tattooist of Auschwitz . . . 'Harrowing ... Lilac illuminates' People 'A compelling, page-turning narrative ... It's smart, thoughtful and also just an old-fashioned good read' Fort Worth Star, Telegram 'A powerful story for readers everywhere ... A novel that brings to life what these women and many others suffered ... I was moved to tears' San Francisco Book Review __________ For three women living through World War II, the threat of war poses very separate issues - that is, until their lives become intertwined in the most tragic of circumstances. New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline's world is forever changed when Hitler's army invades Poland in September 1939-and then sets its sights on France. An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences. For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power. The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents-from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland-as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten. __________ 'Lilac Girls is the best book I've read all year. It will haunt you' Jamie Ford 'This is a page-turner demonstrating the tests and triumphs civilians faced during war, complemented by Kelly's vivid depiction of history and excellent characters' Publishers Weekly 'Kelly vividly re-creates the world of Ravensbrück' Kirkus 'Martha Hall Kelly has woven together the stories of three women during World War II that reveal the bravery, cowardice, and cruelty of those days' Lisa See 'I can't remember the last time I read a novel that moved me so deeply' Beatriz Williams

Sunflower Sisters

2021-03-30 Fiction

Author : Martha Hall Kelly
Release : 2021-03-30
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 417/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Sunflower Sisters by : Martha Hall Kelly

Download or read book Sunflower Sisters written by Martha Hall Kelly. This book was released on 2021-03-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Martha Hall Kelly’s million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced readers to Caroline Ferriday. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of Ferriday’s ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War whose calling leads her to cross paths with Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and conscripted into the army, and Anne-May Wilson, a Southern plantation mistress whose husband enlists. “An exquisite tapestry of women determined to defy the molds the world has for them.”—Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours Georgeanna “Georgey” Woolsey isn’t meant for the world of lavish parties and the demure attitudes of women of her stature. So when war ignites the nation, Georgey follows her passion for nursing during a time when doctors considered women on the battlefront a bother. In proving them wrong, she and her sister Eliza venture from New York to Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg and witness the unparalleled horrors of slavery as they become involved in the war effort. In the South, Jemma is enslaved on the Peeler Plantation in Maryland, where she lives with her mother and father. Her sister, Patience, is enslaved on the plantation next door, and both live in fear of LeBaron, an abusive overseer who tracks their every move. When Jemma is sold by the cruel plantation mistress Anne-May at the same time the Union army comes through, she sees a chance to finally escape—but only by abandoning the family she loves. Anne-May is left behind to run Peeler Plantation when her husband joins the Union army and her cherished brother enlists with the Confederates. In charge of the household, she uses the opportunity to follow her own ambitions and is drawn into a secret Southern network of spies, finally exposing herself to the fate she deserves. Inspired by true accounts, Sunflower Sisters provides a vivid, detailed look at the Civil War experience, from the barbaric and inhumane plantations, to a war-torn New York City, to the horrors of the battlefield. It’s a sweeping story of women caught in a country on the brink of collapse, in a society grappling with nationalism and unthinkable racial cruelty, a story still so relevant today.

Ravensbruck

2015-03-31 History

Author : Sarah Helm
Release : 2015-03-31
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 118/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Ravensbruck by : Sarah Helm

Download or read book Ravensbruck written by Sarah Helm. This book was released on 2015-03-31. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of World War II: Ravensbrück, the only Nazi concentration camp built for women On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 women—housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes—was marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards. Their destination was Ravensbrück, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Holocaust. By the end of the war 130,000 women from more than twenty different European countries had been imprisoned there; among the prominent names were Geneviève de Gaulle, General de Gaulle’s niece, and Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of the wartime mayor of New York. Only a small number of these women were Jewish; Ravensbrück was largely a place for the Nazis to eliminate other inferior beings—social outcasts, Gypsies, political enemies, foreign resisters, the sick, the disabled, and the “mad.” Over six years the prisoners endured beatings, torture, slave labor, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbrück became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll by April 1945 have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. For decades the story of Ravensbrück was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved. Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbrück is also a compelling account of what one survivor called “the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive.” For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape. While the core of this book is told from inside the camp, the story also sheds new light on the evolution of the wider genocide, the impotence of the world to respond, and Himmler’s final attempt to seek a separate peace with the Allies using the women of Ravensbrück as a bargaining chip. Chilling, inspiring, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbrück is a groundbreaking work of historical investigation. With rare clarity, it reminds us of the capacity of humankind both for bestial cruelty and for courage against all odds.

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