Lost Roses

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced the real-life heroine Caroline Ferriday. Now Lost Roses,set a generation earlier and also inspired by true eventsfeatures Caroline’s motherElizaand follows three equally indomitable women from St. Petersburg to Paris under the shadow of World War I. “Not only a brilliant historical talebut a love song to all the ways our friendships carry us through the worst of times.”—Lisa Wingate#1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours It is 1914and the world has been on the brink of war so oftenmany New Yorkers treat the subject with only passing interest. Eliza Ferriday is thrilled to be traveling to St. Petersburg with Sofya Streshnayvaa cousin of the Romanovs. The two met years ago one summer in Paris and became close confidantes. Now Eliza embarks on the trip of a lifetimehome with Sofya to see the splendors of Russia: the church with the interior covered in jeweled mosaicsthe Rembrandts at the tsar’s Winter Palacethe famous ballet. But when Austria declares war on Serbia and Russia’s imperial dynasty begins to fallEliza escapes back to Americawhile Sofya and her family flee to their country estate. In need of domestic helpthey hire the local fortune-teller’s daughterVarinkaunknowingly bringing intense danger into their household. On the other side of the AtlanticEliza is doing her part to help the White Russian families find safety as they escape the revolution. But when Sofya’s letters suddenly stop comingshe fears the worst for her best friend. From the turbulent streets of St. Petersburg and aristocratic countryside estates to the avenues of Paris where a society of fallen Russian émigrés live to the mansions of Long Islandthe lives of ElizaSofyaand Varinka will intersect in profound ways. In her newest powerful tale told through female-driven perspectivesMartha Hall Kelly celebrates the unbreakable bonds of women’s friendshipespecially during the darkest days of history.