They all hope for a second chance of a happier life in their quest for love and freedom. They all experience loss and dream of a better future. He will become a focal figure in the persecution of White Russians, even in Paris.Įntwined with these storylines is the welfare of a little boy.Įach of the narrators has her own personal battles to encounter as well as being part of a wider historical narrative.

Taras has just been released from prison for Bolshevik affiliations. Varinka, a young peasant girl whose father has died, lives with her mamka under the guardianship of her father’s apprentice. She becomes very concerned for her friend when letters from Russia dry up. These two women are in constant written contact despite the physical distance between them.Įliza, one of the Woolsey women, experienced the early days of the Russian Revolution in Europe, returning to America just as Germany declared war on France. Sofya’s narration tells of her close relationship to the family of Tsar Nicholas II and also to one of the Woolsey women with whom she shares many visits. Though she is very young, her forethought was to be of great help to others as the story unfolds. There are four parts to this story and the prologue and epilogue are provided by yet another female voice who played a pivotal role in the storyline but who tragically disappeared from it at an early stage. Though all have separate lives and circumstances, they are all cleverly linked to provide a cohesive storyline. Petersburg to Paris under the shadow of World War One.Įach chapter in the novel is allocated to one of these women who give their own experiences of events at that time. The journey for the reader is presented through the voices of three equally indomitable women from St.

Through extensive research of the Woolsey women from autobiographies and books about former Russian aristocrats, and sources depicting life in Russia and France at this time, Kelly has produced authentic characters and situations to which her readers can easily relate. This novel is a prequel to the Lilac Girls novel. She helped organise the American Central Committee for Russian Relief which found work and homes for these women in their new country and raised money through the sale of goods made by Russian refugees in Paris. In this second novel, Lost Roses, released in April 2019, we again encounter the Woolsey family and learn how Caroline’s mother, Eliza, devoted much time to the displaced White Russian women during wartime. It introduced readers to the real-life heroine Caroline Ferriday, from the famous Woolsey family of New York City who were staunch abolitionists and philanthropists. Her earlier book, Lilac Girls, published in April 2016, became an international bestseller. This is the second historical fiction novel by Martha Hall Kelly inspired by the life of World War heroines.

Lost roses book