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    A Wilder Rose: A Novel
    A Wilder Rose: A Novel
    A Wilder Rose: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Wilder Rose: A Novel

    Written by Susan Wittig Albert

    Narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.

    Revised edition: This edition of A Wilder Rose: A Novel includes editorial revisions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 17, 2015
    ISBN9781501238369
    A Wilder Rose: A Novel
    Author

    Susan Wittig Albert

    Susan Wittig Albert is the New York Times bestselling author of over one hundred books. Her work includes four mystery series: China Bayles, the Darling Dahlias, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and the Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries. She has also published three award-winning historical novels as well as YA fiction, memoirs, and nonfiction. She and her husband live in Texas Hill Country, where she writes, gardens, and raises an assortment of barnyard creatures.

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    Reviews for A Wilder Rose

    4/5

    109 ratings26 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is a fictionalized account of several years in the 1930s in the life of Rose Wilder Lane, the highly accomplished daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House books. It is a fascinating story about the secret collaboration of this mother-daughter team on those books. It seems that mother was good at getting a story down on paper, but not great at understanding what it was that made readers want to read it. It makes for a fascinating story. My only criticism – and it is a tiny one – is that the book seems to end abruptly. Maybe that’s because I wanted it to go on longer. Lately, I’ve TRIED to read a few non-fiction books that were highly speculative (Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff comes to mind) and closer to fiction than non-fiction, which is how it was categorized. Here comes a book that’s Cleopatra’s flip side: a novel that is more truth than fiction. I can see why Ms. Albert created A Wilder Rose as fiction … it gives her more latitude in creating dialogue and situations that, while true to characters and story, can’t be footnoted. It’s also a truer representation to readers … for which I thank her. A creative writing teacher once told me that he wasn’t sure he knew definitively the difference between poetry and prose. Now I see that the lines between fiction and non-fiction are blurred, too.
    • 4/5
      I've always loved the Little House books and reading about Laura: I also loved the TV Show and am interested in anything to do with the topic really. I've not ever read anything by Rose, at least credited to her, though, but have to say when I first started hearing the rumours and then the truth of the extent she was involved in the "Little House" authorship I was not shocked or even surprised. With Rose and Laura's background, it just makes so much sense that things unfolded the way they did. Ms Albert has offered here what is commonly referred to in children's publishing as the "historical biography". This is not a children's book, though the author has decided to use the same fictional device to tell the true story of how the Little House books were written. The book is more about Rose, almost a biography of her life, than it is of Laura; only her later life is covered except where topics from the books are discussed. I found the book extremely entertaining and a good read, though not a page-turner. I did find that when I put it down it was easy to leave it and pick it up a few days later and simply continue from where I left off. While the book was entirely readable, there were a few slow parts, the inside story of publishing can only reach a certain level of excitement :-) but when the book was concentrating on Rose's life or the relationship between mother and daughter I found it fascinating. Photographs certainly would have been a much welcome addition, but I can also understand that they would have blurred the lines between this being accepted a fiction as opposed to non-fiction, or fictional history.
    • 5/5
      Very well written and greatly enjoyed. Excellent job of reading the story.
    • 5/5
      A fictionalized biography of Rose Wilder (Lane), the only child of Laura Ingalls Wilder. This was a great book that provided background to the Little House Books and Rose's part in them. Rose was a very educated and interesting woman in her own right and also a prolific author. 302 pages
    • 5/5
      A fictionalized biography of Rose Wilder (Lane), the only child of Laura Ingalls Wilder. This was a great book that provided background to the Little House Books and Rose's part in them. Rose was a very educated and interesting woman in her own right and also a prolific author. 302 pages
    • 3/5
      I really didn't think I was going to be able to finish this book, considering that Mrs. Lane's political views are utterly repugnant to me. But thanks to the author's skill, I was invested enough to read all the way to the end.
    • 4/5
      (Fiction, Biography, Book-related) Many of you have read and loved the pioneer stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Some of you are aware of the controversy surrounding her stories—allegations that it was, not Laura, but Laura’s daughter Rose Wilder, who wrote the Little House books.Witting Albert makes this case, rather convincingly, in this novel based on Wilder’s life between 1928 and 1939.. She uses some artistic license to imagine the communications between Laura and Rose.Read this if: you’ve read and enjoyed Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. 3½ stars
    • 5/5
      Having loved The Little House book series long ago, this historical novel was just plain fascinating and fun to listen to----read by Mary Rubinette Kowal, the voices she developed for Rose and her mother, Laura, were terrific. And what a story it is of the relationship between mother and daughter as well as the details of getting anything published in those days. It's possible that the audio was much more appealing than the actual book given what some other reviewers have mentioned.
    • 5/5
      Like so many American girls, I grew up a rabid fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books (despite the cheesy television series). Over the years, I read many books about Laura, and begged my long-suffering husband to detour on road-trips so that I could make pilgrimages to Laura’s houses. (You’re a saint, honey!) But I never knew much about Rose (and frankly wasn’t that interested… she didn’t bring in the whole woodpile during a blizzard)

      I wondered why the literary style of “The First Four Years” was so different than the other books, and at one point I read some of Laura’s columns from The Missouri Ruralist – they were *nothing* like the books I so loved - but never gave it much thought beyond the fact that the original books must have had a dynamite editor.

      This novel opened my eyes to the fact that Rose was actually the ghost writer who made the books into such beloved American icons. It was a fascinating look at the dynamics between a brilliant headstrong daughter and a domineering perfectionist mother. Although it is presented as a work of fiction, the author obviously did exhaustive research to capture Rose’s voice – and now I want to learn more about her.
    • 4/5
      In A Wilder Rose author Susan Wittig Albert presents a fictionalized account of the life of Rose Wilder Lane from 1928-1939. It is no surprise to many people that Rose, daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, was a co-author to the Little House books and the actual talent that made them publishable. This novel is based on diaries, journals and letters. The characters are based on real people, from real information they left behind, but it is a novel.

      This was an interesting, turbulent time in the U.S. and Susan Wittig Albert includes many historically accurate details and information about the time and place that set the tone for what is going on in Rose's life. Adding to the historical facts are the details she gleams from her research into the lives of these very interesting authors, a mother and daughter with a complicated and uneasy relationship. It also includes many of Rose's friends from this period of time.

      A Wilder Rose is well-researched enough that I question the decision to fictionalize the story rather than present the information and research in a nonfiction account. Perhaps in this form it is more accessible to more readers, but for me it's always interesting to see the actual information, the research. While the time and place were well set, and a good job was done in developing characterization, sometimes the choice to present the material in a fictionalized manner began to feel like a laundry list of activities to me. Additionally I'm not sure it was beneficial to have Laura's passive/aggressive attitude mentioned repeatedly. Mothers and daughters often have complex relationships and mothers can often be controlling toward their daughters. It's almost a given that deserved to be mentioned but didn't need the repetition.

      Admittedly I'm likely one of the few people around who never had a huge love for the Little House series of books (or the TV show) and I easily accepted the early scholarly works that pointed to the books actually being likely written, or certainly put in publishable form, by Rose, who was a successful writer. I would most certainly recommend this, highly for fans of the books and those who enjoy historical fiction.

      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of he author via Netgalley for review purposes.
    • 5/5
      I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and skips around a bit in time, but everything makes sense if you keep reading. If you are a fan of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and want to know the back story behind the writing of the books and more about Laura and her daughter Rose you should read this one. There were many hardships in both their lives that are not relayed in the series. I was surprised that Laura and Rose’s relationship was a rocky one. The book tells of Rose’s life as a writer and her successes. I had pretty much concluded that Rose doctored up her mother’s stories. She was an educated writer. It would have been hard for Laura to write a finished and polished book with out a secondary education. Laura had the stories and the material and Rose had training and know how. This book was special to me and I think that I will actually purchase the hardcover for my collection. It is a wonderful companion to the other books. If you haven’t read the Laura Ingalls books why not give them a try. They are definitely full of pioneer stories from the past that are easy to read and understand. They are written for children, but many people still enjoy them and reread them now they are older!! I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      A WILDER ROSE would interest past readers of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series of children's books. We loved those books, didn't we?Although this is nonfiction written by Susan Wittig Albert, it is told mostly in the first person voice of Rose Wilder Lane, Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter. The publisher's description that I read on the ARC I won from Kirkus says that this tells the story of Rose's and Laura's collaboration on the Little House books, which should come as a surprise to readers who always thought they were written by Laura. But, in fact, A WILDER ROSE is about Rose.Although A WILDER ROSE does describe the "collaboration," that is not what the book is about. Rather, it is about Rose's success as an author in her own right and her adoption of stray boys. She was also an outspoken Libertarian (after stints with socialism and communism). Her work on the Little House books was a part of her life and only parts of A WILDER ROSE.I had a hard time sticking with this book and found it too easy to put down. My iPhone was more interesting.
    • 2/5
      A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert is the story of Rose Wilder Lane and the work she did on The Little House series. It is told from Rose’s point of view and spans the time from 1928 to 1939. A Wilder Rose is stated to be a fictionalized account of Rose’s life during this time period. Rose is telling the story to Norma Lee Ogg who lives with Rose (along with Norma Lee’s husband). Norma Lee wanted to hear about Rose’s writings because Norma Lee wants to be a writer. The story goes from 1939 back in time to start at 1928 and leads up to 1939. Rose tells how she encouraged her mother to write about her childhood. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote The Prairie Girl as a non-fiction book about her girlhood adventures with her parents. It was not accepted for publication so Rose encouraged Laura (or Mama Bess as she was called by Rose) to write a fictionalized account. Laura wrote the stories on dime store orange notebooks. Laura then gave them to Rose to type up. Rose states that they needed a lot of work to be accepted by a publisher. They were too flat. Rose would then rewrite and edit the books. Rose had no idea when she started this project that one book would turn into eight books.Rose was hoping that if her mother had an income that she could escape. Rose’s main goal was to earn money and live her own life. Rose did not like living at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri. She found it confining and depressing. Laura is portrayed as controlling (wanting to keep her daughter on a tight leash). There is little mention of Almanzo in this book. The book talks about Rose’s travels across Europe, the time she spent in Albania, her friendships with other writers, and the three “adopted” sons. The book also mentions the various articles and books that Rose wrote during her lifetime. From reading this book it seems that Rose suffered from depression that greatly affected her life outlook.I did not enjoy this book. It is supposed to be fiction, but read more like non-fiction. It was dry and I did not find the book engaging. When I read a book, I want to be pulled in (to be drawn into the world of the book). This book makes Laura Ingalls Wilder out to be a tyrant and her daughter, Rose spent her life trying to escape her mother. I give A Wilder Rose 2 out of 5 stars (I gave it two stars for the amount of research involved). There is a lot of political rantings in this book. Rose did not like FDR, The New Deal, and had a strong political view (that went against most people’s views). I was really looking forward to this book, but I was very disappointed.I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      A fictionalized account of the adult life of Rose Wilder Lane that I found interesting, although I would have enjoyed an actual biography better. It did give me an insight into the life of someone I know little about, plus it led me to search for other materials to find out more. I liked the last part the best. I actually didn't realize that there was any "controversy", if you want to call it that, about the Little House books that I loved as a child and still enjoy. It does make me think, but it doesn't change my opinion of those books.
    • 2/5
      This book is quite the spoiler for died-in-the-wool Little House on the Prairie fans, who feel like they know Laura Ingalls Wilder personally. Author Susan Wittig Albert has done a great deal of research on Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. At the end of the day, as the saying goes, it seems pretty clear that the compelling stories of life on the prairie were pretty heavily edited, okay, rewritten, by her daughter to make them the charming and heartwarming stories they became.Rose was already a successful and oft published journalist when she moved back home to help her parents, Laura and Almanzo. Her mom was 61at the time.Rose had traveled and lived internationally for awhile, earning her living writing for magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post. She knew what the editors and the readers expected and knew how to shape a story that would appeal to the readers. She encouraged her mother to write down some of the family stories, not realizing how much of her own time they would eventually absorb. Rose's goal was getting her mom's work published so the subsequent royalty checks could help support her parents financially.Ms. Albert, the author, used Rose's journal to capture the sometimes tense moments between mother and daughter. Mrs. Wilder was innately managing and manipulative; Rose was quietly resentful but always hoping to please her mother. The journal also revealed all the famous and near famous folks that Rose counted as friends. Shaped somewhat by her life experiences during the stock Market Crash and the Great Depression, Rose became almost libertarian in her views. She is generous, but weaves her own web of family and friendship by being generous with her money.Rose's life is certainly significant and her resume is extensive. The irony is that the works that will live far beyond her were the ones she "ghost wrote" with her mom, the books where her name never appears at all.
    • 3/5
      2.5 stars

      I received this from netgalley in exchange for an honest review

      This book wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't dislike it. It just wasn't a book I was able to get into. If your into the Historical Genre it is definitely for you. The writing is excellent, the characters are cute and funny. Historical books (in less its a historical romance) are generally hard for me to get into
    • 5/5
      A fictionalized account of the relationship between Rose Wilder Lane and her mother Laura Ingalls Wilder, and a peak into what Albert thinks is the actual writing of the Little House books.Rose Wilder Lane was an established author, journalist and editor when she moved back home in 1928 to be near her parents, Laura Ingalls and Almonzo Wilder. It was while she was there that she encouraged her mother to write down the stories of her childhood. When the Stock Market crashed in 1929 Rose and Laura both lost everything they had invested and both needed to write to earn money.There is a lot of speculation about how much work was done by Laura and how much by Rose. This story tells the side of the story that Laura knew what the stories were and how to tell them, but wasn't much of a writer. Daughter Rose was both an author and editer and was able to "help" Mama Bess (as she called her mother) to get them ready for publication.I was fascinated by the entire book. It is a wonderful "slice of life" book in that is shows what the world was like shortly before the 1929 Stock Market crash, and what it became after the crash. The Depression, the "Dirty 30's", the loss of money, land and self-worth all are shown in this book. Yet, it isn't a depressing book, it is a picture of hope and perseverance living life to the fullest while still fulfilling family obligations and your own hopes and dreams.I liked this book a lot, and fans of Little House on the Prairie (books or TV show) would love it as well.
    • 3/5
      I had very mixed reactions to this book. Unlike many, I came to the Little House books as an adult (and a writer) reading them to my child. I reread them for myself a few years ago, in fit of nostalgia when my daughter left for college. I'm aware of the deep love many fans have for the books and the TV show, but I came to them with less emotion. I appreciate these books for their depiction of the harsh pioneer life and enduring spirit of the characters. Like many, I found the last book puzzling and stylistically different. Now I know why. Albert makes a compelling case based on her research and a previous biography of Lane, that Lane substantially contributed--even ghost wrote--the Little House books attributed to her mother Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder. The last one came out after Lane's death, so didn't benefit from her stylistic changes. I understand how many fans would find this literary deception troubling, but it didn't bother me. The books stand on their own, no matter the author.Back to A Wilder Rose, a fictionalized biography of Rose Wilder Lane, covering a period when she primarily lived in Missouri on her parent's property at Rocky Ridge during the depths of the Great Depression. I enjoyed learning about the life of this fascinating woman, a professional commercial writer and world traveler. Stories of women who make their own way and succeed in their goals during times when many women couldn't fascinate me. The insights into her writer's life were illuminating. Personally, I didn't like either Rose or Momma Bess (Laura) as characters. I found both manipulative and whinny. But I can live with unlikable characters and frequently find them more interesting than goody-goody ones. Their's was a complicated relationship and the author teetered between "psychologizing" and having her characters decry such "nonsense". For those reasons, I gave the book three stars. Otherwise, I would have given it two.My problem is with the writing. At one point when Rose was ghost writing one of her mother's books, she bemoaned the fact that Momma Bess included extraneous details and anecdotes that interrupted the flow of the story and stopped the narrative in its tracks. I wanted to scream, "Follow your own advice!" The author subjected the reader throughout the book with tedious details about who visited with Rose and her mother's reactions. About the fifth time Momma Bess complained about a visitor because "people will talk," I gritted my teeth. Albert included extraneous anecdotes about dogs with mange, illnesses, and power outages. A few details go a long way to setting tone (I get it--life was hard!). Many details (especially when they are the same ones repeated in a different time frame) drag down the story. Albert had access to Lane's journals and letters and I think she stuffed as much of that research as she could into the story...to its detriment.In spite of the writerly irritations, I enjoyed Rose's story and the insights into the creation of an iconic American children's series.
    • 5/5
      Rose Wilder Lane is the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House series of children's books. This novel is a fictionalized story of the life of Rose, and her relationship with her mother, based on Rose's unpublished diaries, letters written by Rose and Laura, and other evidence.This novel spans the years 1928 to 1939. Rose was living in Albania when she was called back home to take care of her aging parents. The move back to Mansfield, Missouri, was supposed to be temporary, but the stock market crashes, threatening Rose's livelihood as a writer, and her free wheeling life as a world traveler. Both Rose and Laura lose their savings. When a publisher shows interest in Laura's difficult frontier childhood, Laura and Rose collaborate to produce the now beloved Little House books.Rose was a very successful and prolific writer herself, and there has been speculation that Rose was at the very least a coauthor of the books, and quite possibly, may have done the majority of the writing. The author makes a very convincing case, and also explores the reasons why Rose never took any of the credit for the books.This was a well done story not only of how the Little House books came to be, but also the story of a complicated relationship between a mother and a daughter. I have always loved the Little House books, both as a child and an adult. Even if Laura herself didn't actually write them, the stories were still about the life she lived, and it doesn't in any way take away my enjoyment of her books.
    • 5/5
      A story of a family, a strong woman and a beloved children's series of books and television show, Susan has taken on a big project indeed, even more surprising...who knew? This is a wonderful story of a difficult time in America, a mother daughter relationship and it is a beloved story that will and has stood the test of time and of "wild Rose" a maverick in and of her time, a woman who lived her life her way with no apologies.I first fell in love with the Wilder stories from the beloved T.V show "Little House On The Prairie" this was a time in pioneer history that came alive with the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder as told to and written down by her daughter, Rose. This mother daughter relationship was fascinating in that it was very tense as well as loving.Rose is a published writer, traveling and making a very good living for herself until the great depression comes along and Rose as well as her parents need to find a way to live, make money, keep the home they live in, pay the bills as well as to actually eat.At age 61 Laura Ingalls Wilder decides to write her memoir about growing up on the prairie. Laura's writing is far from good and she enlists her daughters help, Rose who is and has been a very accomplished writer who must basically rewrite most of the story and from then on that is how the relationship goes with Laura getting the credit and Rose actually putting the stories together in what we all know and love today. Rose was quite the adventuresome lady traveling all over the world, buying and fixing up houses, collecting friends and having many relationships with men as well as women and writing profusely for many publications through her life. She married once with no kids but she did have three "adopted" boys she loved and took care of.I enjoy all Susan's writing and this book is no exception.
    • 3/5
      I received this novel from Netgallery for a honest review. The story is about Laura Ingalls Wilder daughter Rose's life and her ghostwriting the Little House books. Lots of historical dates, times and places. I thought it would be more "little house" type writing(or at least I was hoping so), so I was a little disappointed.
    • 4/5
      I read an advanced reading copy of the book, via NetGalley.As a child, I was obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House books. They were my first great loves in the field of historical fiction. I went so far as to join my grandma in her trips to the little genealogy library at the Mormon church in town, where I researched the Wilders and Ingalls. That was how I learned the books had a lot more fiction to them--because their journey didn't follow the order of the series, and several dead babies were buried along the way. This untruth bothered me a lot at age 9. On NetGalley, I saw this fictionalized account of Laura's relationship with her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, and I knew I wanted to read it. In recent years I've become aware that Lane heavily rewrote her mother's childhood stories, and I wanted to know more. As a writer, I now understand how real events sometimes must be softened and edited for the sake of storytelling.Albert has created a solid work. It may be fictionalized, but she obviously put a lot of work and research into it, and it's an enthralling read. The book focuses on the 1930s when the stock market crash left Rose destitute and forced her prolonged stay at her parents' farm in rural Mansfield. If, like me, you have grown up with an image of a sassy yet good Laura, you have to reconcile yourself with the grown up Laura as shown through her daughter's eyes. Laura is meddlesome, gossiping, and very worried about appearances in town. It feels real and nuanced, and 3rd person sections set in the "present" (later in the 30s) show Rose has become much like her mother in some ways.One thing that stood out to me was that it is heavily implied that Rose is bisexual. I can see why the author might avoid making an absolute declaration, but since it IS in Rose's viewpoint so much, it felt odd that it just hinted. The book certainly didn't need anything graphic, but something more definitive within Rose's viewpoint would have clarified things.I highly recommend this for grown up readers with fond memories of the Little House books.
    • 5/5
      In 1928, Rose Wilder Lane packed her belongings and left Albania-- a place she loved-- to return to the Missouri Ozarks to check on her aging parents. Her father, Almanzo Wilder, was 71; her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, was 61. They needed help, and Rose felt obligated to stay and get things straightened out. But when the Crash occurred Rose's investments were wiped out, and there was no longer much money to be made writing magazine articles. This was when her mother Laura started writing about her pioneer childhood, and a collaboration was formed that has bewitched thousands upon thousands of readers to this day.A Wilder Rose is written from Rose's point of view. She's a world traveler, a journalist, and a highly paid writer for all the best magazines of the day. Growing up poor, always having to "make do," being ridiculed at school-- all this and more made Rose want to be more, to do more, and she did. When she returns to the Ozarks and becomes trapped by lack of money, her pain is palpable as she tries desperately to gather up the funds needed for both her parents and herself to have the lives they deserve.I can see some readers not liking this book because Albert doesn't write the fairy tale that they have grown to love. Laura isn't the adorable little Half Pint in this book; she's an older woman who's experienced many hardships and heartbreaks, and she's much more real as a result. Laura Ingalls Wilder was not an easy woman to live with, and the stories she wrote about her childhood were far from being publishable. Rose was the true writer in the family, and she knew what needed to be done to a manuscript to make it marketable. Countless battles of will occurred with the birth of each of the Little House books, and the entire process is fascinating to read.Albert also does a masterful job of portraying the period itself: how the stock market crash affected people, what life was like during the Dust Bowl. The political and social conflicts of the time come to life. I was amazed at how similar those conflicts are to the ones we are experiencing today.Susan Wittig Albert walks a fine line in A Wilder Rose, and she does it very successfully. While the Laura presented here isn't the lovable little tyke of the books so many people like me grew up reading and loving, the portrait of the older Laura is a realistic and utterly believable one. However, the author shines at letting us see the real Rose Wilder Lane and hear her voice. Rose's story is one that forcibly struck home with me. It was expected that Rose would give up her life, give up the person she was, give up so many of the things she loved to do, to go home and take care of her parents as their health declined. The exact same thing was expected of me when my beloved grandfather's health declined. I understood her love for her parents, her feelings of guilt and of being ripped in two.A Wilder Rose succeeds beautifully on so many levels: as a social history of the times, as the story of the collaboration of two dissimilar women to create one of the most beloved series of books in America, and as the story of a woman trying to uphold her familial obligations while being true to herself. It's a book that I found hard to put down, and it's a book that's made me see that Rose Wilder Lane deserves to be given credit for all the work she did in creating those little houses.
    • 5/5
      The novel is based on the lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane and highlights the years between 1928 and 1939. A more compelling, fascinating blend of fact and fiction could not have been written by these two remarkable women behind "Little House on the Prairie" and the rest of the books in the Little House Series."Sometimes we need to use fiction to tell the truth. Sometimes fiction tells a truer story than facts."As an editor once said to me: "Do not allow the truth to spoil a good story." And it is true of the Little House Series as being one of the best to ever come out of American literature and became popular in just about the entire world, as well as of this novel.Ghostwriting is also not a cut and paste reality. Sometimes it is done openly, other times there are excellent editors without whom many books would never have seen the light of day and whom are seldom mentioned, as is still happening to this day. There are also ghostwriters who nowadays claim their piece of the cake.So if anybody suspected anything at the time, nobody was going to blow the whistle."Readers and librarians and teachers and schoolchildren loved the idea of an author who, as a little girl, had lived an adventurous life on the American prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder was good for business."Many excellent storytellers are not excellent writers, that we know. This was the case with Laura Ingalls Wilder as well. "Mama Bess was an oral storyteller. She could recall dozens of stories about her family's pioneer wanderings, but when she wrote them down, they sounded like...well, they sounded like stories told by your favorite grandmother in front of the fire on a winter's night, without--as George Bye, Rose's agent, had once said --"the benefit of perspective or theater."This novel, however, is the story behind the story. Of two women both set up to rule the roost,like mother like daughter, and the power struggles that ensued."She(Laura) and I (Rose)were like neighboring states with a long history, with shared and very porous boundaries, she constantly invading, I continually repelling."If it wasn't for Rose accidentally burning down their house as a little girl, and the fall of the Stock Market in 1929, this duo would never have taken place and the popular series would never have been written.This novel explains in detail how it came about in a very well-written, compassionate tale.Rose thought she had a responsibility towards her parents, but in the end, thanks to the actions of John, one of her adoptive sons, she finally learnt the truth behind her own choices : "Generocity as a means of controlling is no gift at all. It's a curse."It was the years of Depression, drought, hardship and hope in which these two women were forced to live and survive together, trying to get small town morals(Laura) married to a cosmopolitan lifestyle(Rose). They looked backwards while trying to move forward. "Slowly, slowly, and little by little, Glory to your lips. It is so." It would take eleven years of survival in dire economic conditions and harsh world politics for Rose to grow from a staunch Liberal to Libertarian. "Every American is governed only by the principle of personal responsibility and that his or her most important freedom is the absolute freedom to flourish or fail." Rose wrote about herself: " I am now a fundamentalist American. Give me time and I will tell you why individualism, laissez-faire, and the slightly restrained anarchy of capitalism offer the possibilities for the development of the human spirit."This books is about all of the above, but also about mothers and daughters, of bonding and hardships, politics and war, droughts and endurance. And pride.Mark Twain: "Don't part with your illusions; when they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live."It is much much more than just biographical fiction.I recommend it wholeheartedly. What an absolute thought-provoking, yet delightful, spell-bounding experience!
    • 5/5
      I was given the wonderful opportunity to read this book as a galley copy. I am very grateful to Susan for asking me to read and review this book. This book is a definite departure from my beloved China Bayles series and even from the remarkable Darling Dahlias series. The book is autobiographical in nature. It focuses on the life of Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder who is known for the Little House on the Prairie series of books. There has been much conjecture over the years that Laura Ingalls Wilder had help with the creation of her very popular stories. Was it her daughter that helped her? Her daughter Rose was a well known author in her own right and known for many stories and books, but is most remembered as the author of "Free Land" ; her famous book about pioneer life in the United States plains at the turn of the 20 century. In Susan's book we get an up-close and personal look at Rose as an author, daughter, friend and mother. We also get a first-hand look at what it was like in the States during the Great Depression. The human spirit remained strong and the will to endure was constant under great hardship and despair. None more than Rose Wilder who strove diligently to keep her own body and soul together during this very bleak time, whilst ensuring that her parents and her myriad friends and acquaintances were looked after and cared for too. Rose was a wonderful woman. Strong, free-spirited, intelligent and resilient. She was also bossy, domineering and, in her own way, always needy of recognition and approbation from her family, friends and colleagues. I loved the book. I loved the characters and I loved the insight that I got into the creation of literature, fiction and all things literary.
    • 5/5
      My name is Laura - a name chosen for me not only after a relative, but because my much-older sisters were reading the series (Little House on the Prairie etc.) when I was born. So I have always had a vested interest, so to speak, in the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder.Susan Wittig Albert is a marvelously prolific, creatively inspirational writer, with a large palette of visionary and beautiful stories always waiting to be told. Her China Bayles herbal mysteries, her Victorian mysteries (written with her husband under the nom de plume Robin Paige,) her Beatrix Potter Cottage Tales and the relatively new series, The Darling Dahlias, all show her remarkable talent and amazing interests. But this newest Albert book breaks unusual ground.Here, she takes on the story behind the stories. Based on voluminous research, she takes us down seldom trod paths, weaving in the story we know, about Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, with the little-known background stories revolving around her relationship with her only daughter, Rose. The unmentioned contributions Rose made to her parents' lives in Missouri, and to the body of work that became synonymous with Laura is laid out here in A Wilder Rose, and takes us behind the scenes with Rose Wilder Lane, a published author and journalist in her own right.I am obviously a Susan Wittig Albert fan, having read all her books of the last 20 years, which also include some great non-fiction (Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place; and An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days.) I hope you will do as I did, and read this book with an open mind and an open heart - ready to delve into the complexities of mother/daughter relationships, and the accomplishments of this particular duo. The book will challenge your preconceived ideas about the Little House books, and yet, it will bring you home with a satisfying understanding of book writing, publishing and parenting, yesterday and today.