Lovely writing as always from this author. An interesting story about historical events I didn’t know about. I loved the characters and found myself completely engrossed in the time period. Rich with detail and character portrayal.

Lost Roses is a very well-written and researched novel set during WWI in Russia, NY, and Paris. Narrated by three female characters an American heiress, a member of the Russian aristocracy and a Russian peasant, it focuses on the end of the Tsarist Russia and the rise of communism. Each of the voices is unique and fascinating. I really appreciate the strong female characters. I've always been interested in the last Tsar of Russia and his family, so loved all the details here. Lost Roses is a prequel to Martha Hall Kelly "Lilac Girls". I haven't read "Lilac Girls" and did not feel like I was missing anything...I plan to read it soon though. Highly recommended! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy.

Thanks to #netgalley #randomhouse for my free review copy of #lostroses by @marthahallkelly1 in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Fans of Lilac Girls will be interested in the prequel, Lost Roses, as it shares the story of Caroline Ferriday’s mother, Eliza. The story is told from three perspectives: Eliza Ferriday, a New York socialite; Sofya, a Russian aristocrat and cousin to the Romanovs; and Varinka, a Russian peasant and fortune teller’s daughter. The story begins in 1914 when Sofya comes to the U.S. to visit her best friend, Eliza. Later when Eliza accompanies Sofya back to St. Petersburg, they find Russia on the brink of revolution. Unsettled by the conflict, Eliza escapes back to the U.S. Because her heart is with the Russian women, she creates a charity to help support women and children as they flee Russia. After some time when she hasn’t heard from Sofya, she becomes deeply concerned. Meanwhile in Russia, Sofya has hired a peasant girl, Varinka, to help with the household tasks but this decision brings additional danger. In a dramatic and tense conclusion, Eliza travels to Paris in search of Sofya while Sofya risks everything in Paris to find Varinka.

As we learn of Eliza, Sofya, and Varinka, we experience life from three extremely different perspectives. The most obvious difference is that Eliza and Sofya come from privilege while Varinka is a peasant. Eliza and Sofya often use their privilege to care for others while Varinka is focused on survival. All three are strong and independent and willing to take risks to ensure their survival.

Martha Hall Kelly writes an engaging and well researched story filled with fascinating characters, relevant historical details, danger, and vivid setting descriptions that describe Russia before the Revolution and the devastation after. As the author weaves together the stories of three interesting and different women, she takes us on a journey through privilege and poverty, beauty and violence, trust and betrayal, love and sacrifice, friendship and loss, and hope and despair. Through the reading of this story, I was completely transported to a different time and place. I felt the beginning was a slow start (some other reviewers have not noted this) and I reminded myself to trust the author and where she would take me. The latter half of the book moves at a fast and engaging pace and the conclusion is a page turner. Overall, the story is well written and structured.

Important themes include using our privilege to help others, using our life to make a difference in the world, loyalty, friendship, family, love, loss, taking risks, determination, charity, privilege/poverty, survival, and fortitude. Because of strong themes, this would make an excellent book club selection. It would be particularly interesting to discuss Varinka's options and choices.

I highly recommend Lost Roses for fans of well written historical fiction, for readers of Lilac Girls, and for those who appreciate stories of determined and strong women who are difference makers. If you read Lilac Girls and found parts of it difficult and disturbing, you will want to know that Lost Roses is a gentler read. It can also be read as a stand alone. In Lost Roses, we find out that Caroline Ferriday (Lilac Girls) had an activist mother that modeled compassion and helped others. Furthermore, it’s exciting that the author is working on another prequel! I’m sure we’ll learn that women pass down these traits in families from generation to generation. I encourage you to place Lost Roses on your spring TBR!

Pub Date: April 9, 2019.
This prequel can be read as a stand alone.

Review posted on blog 2/22/19 readingladies.com
https://readingladies.com/2019/02/22/lost-roses-a-review/

I received this from Netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Told from three different viewpoints, this story sweeps back and forth from Russia and America as WW 1 marches through Eliza, Sofya and Varinka's lives.

I really liked The Lilac Girls but was kind of disappointed with this one. I had a hard time finding the pacing of this story and was never truly vested with any of the characters.

2.5 rounded up to 3☆

I devoured Lilac Girls and couldn't wait to read Lost Roses, its intelligent and emotional prequel. Set in the turbulent times of 20th Century Russia, cosseted between WWI and the Russian Revolution we witness the indomitable spirit of three women. Eliza Ferriday, mother of Caroline the real life daughter who was highlighted in the first book, Sofya Streshnayva her dear friend who was related to the czar and Varinka, a Russian peasant who was employed to be a nanny to Sofya's son Max. Eliza focuses on setting up a charity and helping the female Russian emigres who have made it to the USA. In the meantime, Sofya's life is surrounded by Bolsheviks and peasants raging against the aristocracy and burning and pillaging the homes. Varinka commits an atrocity against Sofya which rounds out the second half of the book. This whole description is simplistic as the fruit of the book and its vivid historical details carry the reader on a train ride that envelops the reader. I would give this a 4.5 as there were some details I felt should have been fleshed out more and others I found problematic. However, fans of Lilac Girls should gobble this up.One does not have to have read Lilac Girls before, but I really feel that the two of them should be read sequentially to fully take advantage of the author's strengths.

I am just as in love with this book as I was the first. I seem to be reading a lot of material from this time period and I can honestly say that this is one of the best that I have read so far. I can't wait to see what she writes next!
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I loved this novel. At first, I had a hard time getting into this book, but soon I found I couldn't put it down. Wonderful story about three women and how their lives are entwined. I also love that it is a prequel to Martha's first book.

Well researched and all consuming, Martha Hall Kelly's newest novel brings to life characters in three beautifully woven story lines in an unforgettable and complex period of world history. Highly recommended!

Historical fiction has a special place in my heart. It helps me understand and experience the past. I felt as though I was there, living through the Bolshevik Revolution and WW1, as I read Lost Roses. Admittedly, it took several chapters before I was totally hooked and could not put this book down, but that often happens when the lives of several characters are alternately told and the story slowly woven together. I am excitedly looking forward to the next prequel centered during the Civil War and cannot help but wonder if there will be a fourth book set during the Revolutionary War.

4.5 stars
If you read and loved Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, as I did, you will want to read the prequel, Lost Roses. I can honestly say I enjoyed this book just as much as Lilac Girls. You don’t have to have read Lilac girls first to fully appreciate Lost Roses. I always feel I learn so much with historical fiction novels and when the story is especially interesting it is an added bonus. Lost Roses is set in the time of WWI around 1916 to 1918. The main geographical area is in Russia during the rein of the the Tzar and the Bolshevik revolution. There are some gruesome events where the aristocracy were driven out of their homes and murdered. There are three main young women characters in this book. Eliza, who is Caroline Ferriday’s mother in Lilac girls, Sonya is Eliza’s Russian aristocratic friend, and Varinka who is a poor peasant girl who worked for Sonya’s family. The story of Sonya and her family’s suffering during the revolution was based on true events. This was an excellent and well researched novel. I would also suggest that the Author’s Note at the end should not be overlooked.
I received an Advanced readers copy of Lost Roses from Netgalley and the publisher. This is an unbiased review.

We first met Caroline Ferriday in Martha Hall Kelly’s outstanding book Lilac Girls, which tells the story of three separate women and how their lives intertwined during World War II. This novel, Lost Roses, is the prequel and centers around Caroline’s mother, Eliza, and her effort to help her friend, Sofya Streshnayvas, during the Bolshevik uprising during World War 1. Eliza works tirelessly to not only assist the women from Russia who have lost their homes but to help her friends that are in need.

As in her first novel, the storytelling technique keeps you turning pages. Each chapter is told in the first person by a different woman in which the story encompasses. You witness the goodness and the atrocities that each face. You are invested in their lives and feel their pain and suffering. As each chapter ends, you are left in suspense not knowing what will befall them.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved Lilac Girls and anyone who has an interest in World War I and the forgotten brutalities that were committed and hidden. It can be read and appreciated by teen to adult. This author leaves you wanting more!!

I’m so sorry. I just could not get into this book. Though it was well written. I realized I have no interest in turn of the century Russia.

Last year I read Lilac Girls by this author and thought it was the best book I had read in a long time. Then, this book appeared on NetGalley by the same author about the early life of one of the characters in Lilac Girls. I immediately requested it and was caught up in the lives of Eliza, Sofya, and Varinka and the people in their lives during the tumultuous years of World War I. Eliza is an American who becomes best friends with Sofya, a girl of Russian royalty. The Red Army takes over Sofya's estate in Russia but she manages to escape a little later. She has to leave her son, Max, in the care of Varinka, a peasant girl who was hired to take care of him. Varinka also manages to escape with Max and grows to love him as her own son. The story evolves around these characters, their lives, and Sofya's search for Varinka and Max. Again, the author did her research and based the characters on real people.

I really enjoyed this book - a prequel to Kelly's Lilac Girls about Caroline's mother Eliza. This story centers around the relationship between Eliza, Sofya (her friend in Russia), and Varinka (Sofya's nanny) and their lives throughout the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia during WWI. Kelly does an amazing job researching her characters and the setting of her books and makes periods of history come alive. I loved how she interwove the characters we met in Lilac Girls so you could see what happened in their lives before we met them. I highly recommend her books and can't wait for the next prequel set during the Civil War.

Historical fiction at its best! Fascinating characters, changing and memorable setting along with captivating storylines keep you wanting more. Taking place during the Great War, in the United States, Russia and Paris you become so entwined with the lives of these amazingly strong women it is hard to let them go. Highly recommend!!

This is a historical novel of life beginning in World War 1 Russia from the vantage of both aristocracy and peasants from 1914 through 1920. The author develops the characters in a most dynamic way; you learn first hand the horrible trials and tribulations the people or Russia went through as their homeland and all they knew was taken away from them by the Bolsheviks. You actually feel like you are in Russia, Paris, and New York as you follow the characters through this saga. One appreciates how the wealthy in this country took care of the White Russians and how life had changed so drastically for so many. It is a wonderful lesson in history. I would recommend it highly.

This heartbreaking World War 1 book is told by 3 different perspectives. Eliza living in the US doing everything in her power to help, Sofya living in Russia and is a Romanov cousin, and Varinka Sofya's servant. I love Ms. Kelly's historical books as she gives you multiple points of view as to the suffering of the wars. At the beginning of the book you see the beauty and splendor of Russia then the devastating effects of the war. The characters are so very real, strong women who do everything they need to for survival. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Ballantine Books. All opinions are my own.

I can’t say enough good things about this novel. The three person narrative gives depth to the characters, history, and plot points that add another layer of experience for the reader. The historical details made me feel like I learned so much, all through my great feeeling for the characters and their various plights. Hall Kelly is superb at making you feel and think about humanity in a new way through the lens of history, all while caring deeply for her characters. So, so good - my favorite book since LILAC GIRLS.

I have been on a real historical fiction kick lately and this one did not disappoint! Martha Hall Kelly has a writing style that just sucks you in from the first page. Same with Lilac Girls! I can’t get enough of her writing ! Her characters are so well written and defined they feel real and her writing and scene building make her stories come alive they just hold you captive and make you want more! Please keep writing books!!!!! She describes other times and places so well I feel like I’m there!

This book is a definite 5 stars!!!
Awesome follow up to the Lilac Girls. Once a started this book I did not want to put it down.
A must read for anyone who read Lilac Girls.
Loved it. I highly recommend Lost Roses.
You will not be disappointed. Well written!!!
Thank you NetGalley for this wonderful arc.