Kelly’s writing style is at times very reminiscent of two classic historical fiction authors that I admire: Rosamunde Pilcher and Colleen McCullough. It is a format that is challenging, yet I found it interesting and engaging. I was concerned that this first-person structure with multiple points of view would be disjointed-three voices who are often not together revealing the conflicts and events independent from each other. Each of the three characters: Eliza, Sofya, and Varinka take their turn by chapters telling their portion as the narrative unfolds.
Inspired by actual people and events, Kelly has taken personalities and historical events and created a clever and compelling story.
Lost Roses focuses on the war’s effect on three indomitable women who fight their own battles for their families and themselves while the menfolk are away at war. History books record every battle in vivid detail. Approximately 9 million military and 7 million civilians perished in the conflict. It was the largest global war in European history mobilizing millions of soldiers and multiple countries. Petersburg and continues through “the war to end all wars,” the Bolshevik revolution (Red Russians), the assassination of the Tsar and his family, and the exodus of aristocrats (White Russians) from their native land. The story spans pre-WWI Paris, New York, and St. Lost Roses begins a generation earlier in pre-WWI and features Caroline’s mother Eliza Ferriday, an American socialite and philanthropist, her friend Sofya Streshnayva, a Russian aristocrat, and Varinka Kozlov, a Russian peasant. Lilac Girls introduced us to Caroline Ferriday in the 1940’s WWII. A very tall order, indeed.Īgain, the story features a tryptic of women struggling on the home front during a world war. If she was smart, she would stick to her winning formula: base the story on real-life women facing challenges during historical events transpor t readers into their lives and times through first-person narratives that are impeccably researched offer page turning-prose that keeps you up into the wee hours and finally, develop characters that we can empathize and care about. A prequel to Lilac Girls, many of her readers will have high expectations. One cannot even imagine the pressure on Kelly’s shoulders to produce her second novel, Lost Roses, released last month by Ballantine Books. It has become one of those rare books in publishing that has an enormous wingspan, remaining on the bestseller lists for years.
Early reviews were rather mixed, but it hit the NY Times bestseller list immediately, a phenomenon for a debut novel. Martha Hall Kelly’s debut novel was published in 2016 – and like all book fledglings was sent out into the world with high hopes.
Are there any historical fiction readers out there who have not read the insanely popular Lilac Girls yet? Hello!
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