Ballantine Books Lilac Girls: A Novel

A master piece of a novel

I was told about this book by a friend whose book club had read it - their opinions were very divided and my friend didn't enjoy the book at all. I was intrigued by the truth behind the novel so thought I would buy it to and would make up my own mind.There are always different sides to every story. Looking from different viewpoints is the vehicle used by this author to tell a dreadful story.The story is about three women - one a doctor in a concentration camp, one a prisoner who was used in the experiments that took place and the other a high society woman from New York working to raise money for those in Europe effected by the war.The writing is touching and fascinating. Once the characters were established I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen - although there was an inevitability that there was going to be very little good come of the events of the world war.So many novels are written about this war but there is always a unique angle to be found and this was yet another one which gave an amazing story to be used. Fact is always better than pure fiction and I suspect that if this story had been imagined completely it would be treated almost as science fiction or horror. In fact, the truth behind it makes the book feel more horrific than ever.I loved reading this novel and was so pleased that I picked it up.

Cleverly written in that we see different viewpoints of the war. 1 the victim. 1 the perpetrator. Then the American socialite doing what she can to help but it highlights the differences between the suffering of Britain during the war & America. It also helps that the majority of the story is true. Very moving & thought provoking

This was an eye opening read for me about what happened to these brave women. It's made me get in other books about them.

Fabulous book. Moving tale based on a true story.

WW2 novel much loved by my three daughters