Lilac Girls

February 15, 2016
Kelly’s compelling first novel follows three women through the course of World War II and beyond. Caroline, a wealthy New Yorker, volunteers at the French consulate in New York, assisting refugees and raising funds. She meets Paul, a charming, married French actor, and sparks fly. Kasia, a young woman living in Poland during the Nazi invasion, works for the resistance until she is captured and sent to Ravensbruck, the women’s concentration camp. There, she encounters Herta, a doctor hired to help execute inmates and perform experiments. Though her mother is Herta’s trusted assistant, and even saved a camp guard’s life, Kasia is operated on, joining the “Rabbits,” inmates deformed from their surgeries. Meanwhile, Caroline loses touch with Paul when he returns to France to find his wife, and she finds herself tasked with keeping track of the growing concentration camp network for the consulate, learned from British intelligence. After the war, she travels to France to assist in locating missing people, where she learns about the Rabbits, including Kasia, who is struggling to let go of her anger and move on with her life. Despite some horrific scenes, 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. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners.

Three narrators bring to life historical figures connected to Ravensbruk concentration camp. Their superb accents and emotional shifts track the characters' changes over two decades. Cassandra Campbell narrates the part of socialite Caroline Faraday, who approaches charity work with a cocksure, stony attitude that changes to dedicated compassion for those who have suffered. Herta Oberheuser, portrayed by Kathleen Kana, begins as an ambitious young medical student slighted by gender and class discrimination. She grows colder and callous as a German doctor at Ravensbruk. Kathleen Gati recounts the heartbreaking narrative of 15-year-old Polish teen Kasia Kuzmerick. Her horror at the brutalities around her deepens when she becomes one of the "Rabbits" chosen for experimentation. Postwar-Kasia is presented with that bitterness and rage result from her experiences until a significant event finally brings her peace. S.W. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine