The Lost Roses follows the lives of three women - Eliza who lives in America, Sofya who is a Russian aristocrat and cousin to the Romanovs, and Varinka who is a Russian peasant struggling to make ends meet. I have not read Kelly’s smash hit, The Lilac Girls, which I thought would work in my favor since this book has been described as the prequel to her successful debut. I live for strong, female leads so I had very high hopes for Eliza Woolsey MItchell, one of the main characters in this novel. But I will support these good people to my dying day, and if the police drag them out of here, I swear to the Almighty, they will have to take me, too.”

A world that may be safe and predictable but with the life wrung out of it. For if we stick to just ‘our kind’ we’ll simply exist in this insular, petty world. Electra, you’re right, these Russian women are not our kind. Priscilla, your father refused to speak a word of English, when he first came, only pointed his cane at what he wanted at Hildreth’s. Said she wasn’t trying hard enough to fit in. Archie, people talked when your grandmother wore her Dutch cap to church each Sunday. Extend the same hand others gave your forebears…. Hearing Russian spoken at The Tavern may feel wrong to you, but for God’s sake rise above it, dear friends. To ask for your patience and a drop of the milk of humankindness. “I’m not here to shame you, but to help you understand.

Lost roses