Lilac Girls

An American working in Paris, a German doctor, and a Polish teenager working for the Resistance are thrown together in this WWII story based on real events culminating in the notorious Ravensbruck Camp for women, famous for its medical experimentation during the war. It’s a story of survival and courage and unlikely friendships.

The lives of three women intersect in the aftermath of the Holocaust. One is an American socialite, based on a real person, working in New York to bring Jewish refugees from Europe to safety. The other is a young Polish woman who had been imprisoned in Ravensbruck, the famed women’s concentration camp where cruel experiments were conducted on the inmates. The third is a German doctor who lands a job at Ravensbruck, justifying to herself the things she has to do there.  After the war, a confrontation involving the three women reveals much about the post-Holocaust world and the different… show more.

Lilac Girls was a huge bestseller and for good reason. It weaves together the stories of three amazing women whose lives intersect in the brutal backdrop of WWII Germany. It paints a heartrending picture of what humans endured (think Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp), while also shining a light on the enduring power of hope, love, and friendship. One of the best WWII books I’ve read. Tissues required.

Although this book is historical fiction, it was inspired by the life of Caroline Ferriday, a New York city philanthropist who worked at the French Consulate during World War II and helped rescue 35 Polish women from the Nazi concentration camp for women called Ravensbruck. Woven in are the stories of two other women, a Polish teenager whose carefree youth disappears as she begins to assist the Resistance, and a young German doctor who finds herself forced to participate in horrific procedures at Ravensbruck- talk about a great moral dilemma! I love historical fiction about unsung women who changed history… show more.