Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly, tells the story of The Lilac Girls, Caroline’s mother and her Russian friend during World War I.
It is 1914 and there is so much tension in Europe that war seems inevitable and yet so very far away. Eliza Ferriday, a New Yorker through and through is excited to visit St. Petersburg with her best friend Sofya Streshnayva, a cousin of the Romanov’s. Excited to be together and exploring Russian society, Eliza and Sofya relish in each others company.
But when Austria declares war on Serbia and Russian politics become dangerous, Eliza returns to American while Sofya and her family escape to their country estate in the hopes of riding out the conflict. When Sofya hires a country girl to help care for her infant son, she unknowingly opens her doors to the very rebels who are plaguing Russia.
As the war breaks out Eliza and Sofya must kept their wits and fight to protect the ones they love.
For some reason this one took me a long time to read. I think it may be because it starts out pretty slow, the tension building only a little at a time. I felt like I could easily put it down and wasn’t overly anxious to pick it back up. That definitely does change the further into the story you get.
Eliza and Sofya’s story-lines are very different. You’d think Sofya’s would be the more compelling because she was actually in dire straights and just trying to survive, where as Eliza’s was more in the realm of high society. But I liked Eliza as a character much better than Sofya. I did like seeing Sofya’s part of history. I haven’t read much historical fiction about that time period in Russia and it was interesting to see.
This one get’s an average 3 stars from me and primarily because of the slow upstart.
That’s all for now!
-M-