Book Review: Lilac Girls (three lives intersect, WW2)

 Lilac Girls by Martha Kelly (Ballantine, $17.00, 2017, 502pp PB) 

Where was I when this book came out in 2017? Why did I miss all the hullabaloo about this fantastic story of World War II? 

Author Martha Kelly has a habit of ending chapters on cliffhangers. . . . and with three major characters in three different geographical areas, I had to keep reading.

The Title. . . .

I am always cognizant of titles - what they mean and why they were chosen. Lilacs do appear twice in this book but I might have selected something different.

And the front cover illustration of three women walking away, arm in arm. How do our three women's lives intersect, I kept wondering.

I almost posted a preliminary review yesterday when I was about halfway through the book but then found some time and finished it (and it's a long book). And glad I was to read the author's note: Lilac Girls is based on true events which is amorphous, misleading, contradictory at best and doesn't usually tell me anything but the author's note does help tremendously.

Sisters and Friends and Family and the War and a Little Bit of Love

It is hard yet realistic to bounce from a wealthy socialite in New York City to a young woman in occupied Poland and a woman doctor in occupying Germany who believes wholeheartedly in the Reich. Reminds me of the conflicts in recent decades where the wars have been fought far from home and we hardly were affected at all. 

The first woman has a heart of gold and volunteers for the French war effort, seeking funds from the well-off for French orphans. The latter is hindered by her gender in a male-dominated occupation so when she sees an ad for a doctor in a re-education camp for women, she takes it (and finds herself in Ravensbruck!) And the other is a fighter and a supporter of others until she has a difficult time after the war.

We have one of them falling in love with a married man. We empathize with the war wounds that continue to plague another, well after the fighting stops. We follow the women in a concentration camp and really feel we are experiencing daily life there with its acts of generosity and betrayal.

Saga

Most sagas are historical novels about several generations of one family or two. This is a saga but horizontal not vertical in that it takes the reader through only a few years but focuses on three young women in three countries during World War II.

And the sage continues well beyond D-Day.

And, oh My!

Lilac Girls is part of a trilogy, the first book, Lost Roses,

 

also based on true events introduces us to the previous generation and World War I while Sunflower Sisters

begins the trilogy in the Civil War.

Book Review: Life is Golden: What I've Learned from the World's Most Adventurous Dogs (golden retrievers love camping)

Life is Golden: What I've Learned from the World's Most Adventurous Dogs, by Andrew Muse with Kicker Dog (Gibbs Smith [To enrich and inspire humankind], $10.99, 2022, 144 pp)

Every once in a while I see a photo book of goldens (or labs) doing what they do best: accompanying their human photographer (on camping trips) - and I just have to have that book, to drool over the photos. Whether of the mountains in the distance (that I miss) or the gorgeous goldens, I won't say, but goldens are very photogenic. 

Life is Golden is one such book that I bought on a whim. Or, rather, it took me three hours in the bookstore to walk out with it and a few other books, which is why I don't often frequent bookstores in person - I can break the bank and have trouble carrying them all out to my car in one trip!

I took a long time reviewing this book because I didn't want to let it go (I donate the books after I review them).

Plotless Plot

There is no plot! Just a story of the travels of a man and his dogs and some of the lessons he learned along the way and the people they met and the places they visited around the country (mostly mountains) and the (extreme) sports they participated in - both man and dog - from the oceans to the mountains and Alaska to Ohio and hang gliding to snowboarding - and glaciers along the way.

The trip started with Golden Retriever Booter in Utah and finished with Golden Retriever Kicker (also in Utah) but along the way, author Andrew Muse grows up (though he started the adventure in his 20s) and also found a career - that of a content creator - of a podcast called Tiny Home Adventure, first sponsored by Go Pro and lasting three seasons (so far).

Most of the photos star Puppy Kicker and scenery, though Muse does appear in a few himself.

Love the font and I want so many of the photos on my wall as posters! However, not all the photos were identified and I would have loved a map of their travels.

Book Review: Woodrow on the Bench - Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog (Boston, well-loved old dog)

Woodrow on the Bench: Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog, by Jenna Blum (Harper Collins, 2021, 197pp PB, $17.99) 

"Sometimes, it seems, when you let people know what you're going through, help arrives when you're least expecting it, bringing you what you didn't know you needed, in forms above and beyond what you've ever imagined." p. 61

The Story of a Lab, His Life and Friends

I am partial to labs. OK, I am in love with labs, and black labs are classic. So I thought Woodrow on the Bench was about a judge and a trial.

Was I wrong! Woodrow is a lovely memoir of a Boston Labrador retriever who lived across the street from a park with a bench where he and his person, Martha, would  hang out and collect friends - for who can ignore a friendly lab!

Martha's love for Woodrow comes through on every page in the way she cares for him but, not only that, Martha's bevy of friends caring for him and for Martha, whom Woodrow left behind. We read starting in May, through to December, with each month having its own subtitle. And we empathize with Martha who struggles and struggles with the question, "When?" even as she carries "Kooks" (aka Woodrow) up and down three flights of stairs every day to his park bench and his myriad of friends who stop as they walk by.

We learn of one friend all the way over in Minnesota who comes for a last visit. We meet several Boston authors, friends of both Martha and Woodrow, who come to help. Even the doorman has a special place in his heart for Woodrow - and some dog biscuits.

This is a short read for it contains the Quality of Life questionnaire (one of several) and short inter-chapters.

A Love Story

The inscription reads: "For Woodrow and for anyone who's ever loved an old dog. . . . " so have some Kleenex at the ready.

Book Review: White Cat, Black Dog (short stories)

White Cat, Black Dog, by Kelly Link (Random  House, 2023, $18, 276 pp PB) 

This is not my usual book review in which I write about plot and style. White Cat, Black Dog is a hard book to review, for me. I always have a difficult time reviewing a collection of short stories: the plots vary too much as do, sometimes, the writing. 

I wanted to read White Cat because it is short, has Dog in the title and comes highly recommended. Author Kelly Link is highly regarded: she won a MacArthur Genius Grant. 

So, how could I go wrong? I generally like books other reviewers like and pan those that others also pan. Sometimes I am the lone voice in the wilderness. 

The stories did get better and more understandable but I just don't see how they could be the basis of a book club selection or the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle  (CLSC) list for 2026 or even a finalist for the 2024 Chautauqua Prize. Obviously many people disagree with me. You might, too.

A collection of seven stories can usually be read in any order, so I started with one of the short ones, sort of in the middle. It was hard for me to understand: I found even sentences were hard to comprehend. The premise is great however: stories that are modern day remakes of the Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales.

Book Review: A Dog Named 647 (middle-grade adventure, puppy mills)

A Dog Named 647, by Nancy Kay (Speaking for Spot Press, 212 pp PB $10.99, 2025, 11+ years)

You're a 12 year-old girl and it's summertime in Missouri. You live with your mom. You have wanted a dog all your life but your mom is afraid of dogs after a childhood incident. And to top it all off, your dad moved to another state plus too often your brilliant best friend and you get into spats. Thus the stage is set for an inspiring story of a dog and a girl, a very brave and ingenuous girl.

Riveting

This reviewer received A Dog Named 647 in the mail today and devoured it in one sitting. 

But I knew I would. Leery at first, I hesitated to open this book - I am such a wuss and I knew author Nancy Kay would be touching on some serious issues, but the trials and tribulations of middle school, divorce, bullying and puppy mills were handled with great care and sensitivity.

647 is a story about friendship, about families, about love and forgiveness, about steadfastness, and about taking risks - all for the love of a pregnant dog who temporarily escaped a terrible situation. 

Even the title, A Dog Named 647, is riveting, along with the cover illustration whose dog's body language says it all - and accurately.

What's it All About?

Raising money to buy a dog at an auction, researching the internet, sneaking out at night with your best friend to gather photographic evidence, convincing the authorities to raid a puppy mill thus saving hundreds of dogs, understanding your mother's foibles and moving slowly with her fears as well as those of fearful dogs.

Author Nancy Kay is also a veterinarian so she understands dogs. And she is an author of two books* that will enhance the bond between human and animal by using education and sensitivity.

We loved this book and believe it will spark a new movement among middle-school dog lovers like Kids United for Animal Welfare. It's just what the doctor ordered!

-------------------------------------

*Speaking for Spot

Your Dog's Best Health

Book Review: Scout Hits the Trail (with CD)

Scout Hits the Trail, by Liam O'Donnell (Soundprints, 2008, $4.95, 32pp PB, ages 4-8, preschool to grade 2), a Pet Tales book, with assistance from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)

Do you remember how, when you were a kid, you had one or two read-along books and took them everywhere you went? You would look at the story and listen to it being read just for you. Maybe that's even the way you learned to read! Or, pretended to.

Soundprints has published a wonderful story, approved by the AVMA, about a  yellow labrador retriever named Scout and who goes on a hike with his family. Everyone carries something, even Scout. After lunch, Scout saves the day but, just how, will be revealed not by me but by reading and listening to Scout Hits the Trail.

Inspired by a real dog, Scout is also depicted with appropriate body language in illustrations that seem almost to be photographs, and not only is there a glossary in the back but also a page about taking care of your dog - in the heat of summer, with an ID collar and leash on at all times, and advice about not interacting with wild animals.

Definitely a book to use daily - and keep!

Book Review: Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About (dog rescue, young woman in NYC coming of age)

Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About, by Isabel Klee (HarperCollins, 2026, 288pp HB, $19.60)

This review is here because the word, Dogs, comes before the word, Boys, in the title! And because we have put it on your To Read List for 2026. A warm, funny, inspirational book, Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About is a book you will race through, hardly believing it could be true but loving it nevertheless.

Our heroine, Isabel, has lived many lives before she is 30 - lived in many apartments with many roommates and boys, fostered many dogs, spent many nights partying in New York City bars. . . .

A Gem of a Book

A little gem, with an added bonus that I didn't notice until about chapter 5 are the faint outlines of a dog at the top of each chapter. I wondered if their breed might foretell something about the content of the chapter but I didn't want to take the time  to analyze the possible connection. Suffice it to say that perhaps the drawings did, perhaps they didn't.

And I would suggest  paying attention to not the chapter titles as much as the months and years preceding each chapter (I didn't).

Author Isabel Klee has also given us a gift in the chapter on losing a pet and how it differs from losing a parent or other close someone. "When you lose a dog, it's impossible to imagine ever loving again. Then, one day, you stumble across another dog who needs you, and it just makes sense. . . choosing the inevitable heartbreak that comes at the end of a dog's life. They were going into it knowing how much it would hurt one day and doing it anyway. Because the loss is excruciating; there's no way around it. But the in-between is pure magic." (p. 169)

And the Story is. . . . 

The author is dog-crazy and searching for love in the Bog City. She also has a great day job with dogs. And, she fosters dogs with issues and turns them around, just by being accepting - a lesson for all of us. I would love to meet her!

A party girl, her life was exhausting for me but parts of it I envied. Does she ever truly find "true love'? (apart from dogs, that is.)

Now I am ready for her next book on more canine characters and how she loved them back to physical and emotional health!

I give this book an A-. Like Kristin Hannah's, it is emotionally exhausting but I was sad when it ended.