Where Lilacs Still Bloom, by Jane Kirkpatrick, is a
wonderful book of fiction based on the life of Hulda Klager.
Hulda was born in 1863 and came to America with her family
when she was two. With only an eighth
grade education she was able to turn her love of hybridizing and lilacs into a
rich legacy by creating over 250 new varieties of lilacs.
Her father encouraged her in her experiments and cautioned
her that not everyone would think what she did was a respectable or moral thing.
Indeed Hulda, herself, sometimes felt
guilt that was induced by others, at what some perceived as tampering with
nature.
In her 96 years of living, Hulda faced many, many heartaches
and losses and even overcame a bout of major depression to triumph over most of
the hardships.
Jane Kirkpatrick does a masterful job of integrating
composite characters with real people allowing the reader to get to know Hulda,
her family and her hybridizing experiments even better.
The book is very inspirational and exciting. During the
course of reading, I found that Hulda's gardens have been restored and are
still available for viewing. I've
decided, because of my love for lilacs, that I want to visit her gardens
sometime soon.
This book was provided for me by Waterbrook Multnomah in
exchange for an unbiased review.
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