Lost Roses Book Novels & Stories

I was actually looking for this myself a few months back after finishing 'The Lilac Girls'. It's a popular one and not always available through the usual library apps. Your best option, if you want a permanent copy, is to purchase the digital audiobook directly from retailers like Audible, Apple Books, or Google Play Books. They have it for sure.

A word of caution though – I've seen some pretty sketchy third-party sites pop up in search results claiming to have free downloads. They're almost always malware traps or pirated copies, which just isn't cool for the author or narrator. Stick to the official platforms. Sometimes your local library might have a CD copy you could borrow, but the digital loan via Libby or Hoopla is way more convenient if they have it in their catalog.

Martha Hall Kelly's 'Lost Roses' digs into the lives of three women just before and during the First World War, focusing on Eliza Ferriday and her mother Caroline—wealthy New Yorkers who are philanthropists—and a young Russian aristocrat, Sofya Streshnayva. The heart of the story is Sofya’s perspective, as the novel explores the complete societal collapse she faces during the Russian Revolution. While 'Lilac Girls' concentrated on WWII and the Ravensbrück concentration camp, this prequel shifts to a more domestic, but no less brutal, conflict.

It gets pretty dark. We see Sofya lose everything: her family's estate, her status, any sense of safety. The narrative contrasts her desperation with Eliza's relatively stable, though worried, life in America, as Eliza tries to help Russian refugees. Honestly, I sometimes felt the American chapters dragged a bit, like I was just waiting to get back to the chaos in Russia. But that contrast is probably the point—showing how the war shattered one world while another watched from a distance, trying to understand.

If you're after the paperback or hardcover of 'Lost Roses', Amazon usually has stock with Prime shipping, and their 'look inside' feature lets you check a sample first. I've also seen it on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, though you might want to call your local store to confirm it's in.

A place people sometimes forget is Bookshop.org—it supports independent bookstores, and I've had good luck finding titles there when they're out of stock elsewhere. The pricing is competitive with the big retailers, too.

For a digital copy, Kobo or Apple Books are solid choices if you're not tied to the Kindle ecosystem. I ended up getting the audiobook version on Audible because the narration is really well done for the historical setting.