Lost Roses

Lost Roses

*WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD*

This was my first Martha Hall Kelly novel. I have seen Lilac Girls in bookstores before, but I’ve never gravitated towards picking one up. But after reading the summary for Lost Roses, I was hooked to read.

There aren’t many historical fiction stories that take place during WWI let alone in Russia. Russia is a black and white topic in America, so it’s nice to read a story that involves characters from Russia during the Russian revolution without a negative connotation.

This book gave me a similar page turning experience as Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen for it had vivid imagery, unique characters, and high stakes drama.

Of the three main characters, I resonated more with Sofya because she remained strong in unbearable times. Eliza did help Russian women migrating to America but if you plucked her from the story it wouldn’t change much. She doesn’t interact with Varinka until the very end. Caroline plays a small part in this novel as well. Granted she does have her own story in Lilac Girls, but it would be more interesting if she was involved more with her mother throughout the book.

Varinka and Sofya are really the driving forces of the story. Even Agnessa plays a vital role by bringing Varinka into their summer home and meeting Luba, Max, and Sofya.

Eliza is in the story because of Caroline being the main character in Lilac Girls and Eliza being her mother. I really didn’t find Eliza’s story all that fascinating except for when Henry and Merrill were involved. Merrill had old feelings for Eliza even though she was married to Henry his best friend. He didn’t pursue Eliza until after Henry’s death only to enlist in the war to cure his guilt and remorse for trying to pursue his best friend’s widow.

I’m a little unsure about the relationship between Varinka and Taras. I would have believed Taras as just being the evil apprentice left behind to take care of Varinka and Mamka, but to make him the half-brother from a secret affair involving Varinka’s Father and unknown woman should have been revealed early on to make the relationship that much more cringey and worrisome.

I was on Varinka’s up until the moment she refused Sofya her son back and tried to convince Max that she was her real mother. It was difficult to feel happy for Varinka to find a real and honest relationship with a man that would treat her properly and caringly while getting a happily ever after with him in the end. I’m still not sure what happened to Taras in the end. He didn’t die or get arrested. He was more like written off. I also didn’t find Varinka’s confrontation with Sofya over Max all that convincing or satisfying. I would have imagined Varinka putting up a fight over keeping max permanently or just something more emotional than how she reacted. She put a fight with her Mamka over Max being watched by Mamka when Mamka refused. But she didn’t share that same energy with Sofya in their second confrontation over Max.

Overall, I enjoyed the book tremendously. I hope to see more Russian based stories on the markets to learn more about Russia and its culture.