Here the story focuses on her mother, Eliza, who set an example for her daughter by being a champion for Russian nobility brutalized during WWI. How Caroline Ferriday, the real-life character featured in Kelly's Lilac Girls, was inspired to become an advocate for Polish refugees who survived WWII comes to light in this lively, well-researched prequel in which she appears as a child. Petersburg and aristocratic countryside estates to the avenues of Paris where a society of fallen Russian émigrés live to the mansions of Long Island, the lives of Eliza, Sofya, and Varinka will intersect in profound ways. In her newest powerful tale told through female-driven perspectives, Martha Hall Kelly celebrates the unbreakable bonds of women’s friendship, especially during the darkest days of history. But when Sofya’s letters suddenly stop coming, she fears the worst for her best friend.įrom the turbulent streets of St. On the other side of the Atlantic, Eliza is doing her part to help the White Russian families find safety as they escape the revolution. In need of domestic help, they hire the local fortune-teller’s daughter, Varinka, unknowingly bringing intense danger into their household. Now Eliza embarks on the trip of a lifetime, home with Sofya to see the splendors of Russia: the church with the interior covered in jeweled mosaics, the Rembrandts at the tsar’s Winter Palace, the famous ballet.īut when Austria declares war on Serbia and Russia’s imperial dynasty begins to fall, Eliza escapes back to America, while Sofya and her family flee to their country estate. The two met years ago one summer in Paris and became close confidantes. Petersburg with Sofya Streshnayva, a cousin of the Romanovs. Eliza Ferriday is thrilled to be traveling to St. It is 1914, and the world has been on the brink of war so often, many New Yorkers treat the subject with only passing interest.

“Not only a brilliant historical tale, but a love song to all the ways our friendships carry us through the worst of times.” -Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours Petersburg to Paris under the shadow of World War I. Now Lost Roses, set a generation earlier and also inspired by true events, features Caroline’s mother, Eliza, and follows three equally indomitable women from St. The million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced the real-life heroine Caroline Ferriday.

Book lost roses by martha hall kelly