A Wilder Rose

Summary (from the publisher): The Little House books, which chronicled the pioneer adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, are among the most beloved books in the American literary canon. Lesser known is the secret, concealed for decades, of how they came to be. Now, bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert reimagines the fascinating story of Laura’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, an intrepid world traveler and writer who returned to her parents’ Ozark farm, Rocky Ridge, in 1928. There she began a collaboration with her mother on the pioneer stories that would captivate generations of readers around the world.

Despite the books’ success, Rose’s involvement would remain a secret long after both women died. A vivid account of a great literary deception, A Wilder Rose is a spellbinding tale of a complicated mother-daughter relationship set against the brutal backdrop of the Great Depression.

 

Review: I received an advance copy of this novel from NetGalley.

 

This novel tells the story behind the famous Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, from her daughter Rose's perspective. It has long been suspected and now largely confirmed that Rose was far more than an editor for her mother's bestselling books, and instead should be recognized as a co-author, since her edits and substantial changes and additions made the books the beloved classics that they are today. In this novel, Susan Witting Albert, fictionalizes Rose's experience during the Great Depression when her mother first had the idea of writing a book about her childhood.

 

Like millions of children, I loved the Little House books as a child and was a bit reluctant to pull back the veil and see the (fictionalized) truth behind the beloved books. Laura, or Mama Bess as her daughter calls her, comes across as ornery and consumed by concern about what the neighbors think - starkly different from the sweet girl from the books. And indeed, this novel implies that wanting to maintain the pretense of the novels is partly why Rose was never named as co-author, to maintain the image of the little old lady writing her childhood tales about growing up in America.

 

I was surprised to learn about Rose Wilder Lane's many different relationships through reading this novel. I knew she had been divorced, but I had never read about her other (and suspected) relationships, including some with women. For example, Rose very clearly has a deep relationship with Troub; "We'd had nearly seven years together, most of them good years, interesting, exciting years. We had shared experiences, expenses, travels. We had cared for one another in all the way we knew how, in all the ways that mattered." While her relationship with Troub is never explicitly stated in the book, it is certainly heavily implied that they are living together as more than friends. I thought the author did a good job of handling Rose's relationships in a tactful but truthful way given what is known about Rose's actual life. Yet knowing this, it's little wonder that her propriety-conscious mother often disapproved of Rose, "I was a wild Rose - a divorced Rose, a Rose without a husband, a Rose who refused to plant herself in a Mansfield garden and produce baby Roses."

 

As a reader, it was a bit difficult to keep up with Rose's varied life, full of travel and dozens of relationships, several adoptive children, and a great deal of traveling. Additionally, the novel is told as if Rose is relaying the story of how she became involved in her mother's writing to a friend, so its all past tense, which lends itself to sort of a dull story arc, not to mention constant jumps in time as the reader is returned to the present time of the story before diving back to her mother's books. Throughout, the most repeated themes were Rose's constant need to keep writing to keep up with expenses ("my haunting call was always for cash cash cash"), combating her mother's expectations, and wanting to get away and be free and independent. Although times were tough, Rose and her family made it through the Great Depression with relatively little hardship compared to many Americans. The constant humdrum details about her writing projects did get tedious - in short reading about writing isn't always the most thrilling experience.

 

This novel based on the true story of the collaboration between a mother with the stories and a daughter with the writing skills, who, in trying to earn money to make it through the Great Depression, ended up co-writing eight books who continue to be read and loved today.

 

Stars: 3