A Wilder Rose

by Susan Wittig Albert

Laura Ingalls Wilder is widely loved as the author of the Little House books that detail her life growing up in woods and on the prairies that were the frontiers of her time. Yet unknown to readers and publishers of the time and even until recently, Laura?s daughter Rose had a substantial hand in crafting those stories for children. Rose was a well-recognized writer on her own, and it was she who encouraged her mother to write, then substantially cleaned up her stories so they were fit for publication. In A Wilder Rose: Rose Wilder Lane, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Their Little Houses, author Susan Wittig Albert fictionalizes this real-life story while shedding light on the lives of both Laura and her daughter.

• ISBN10: 0989203506
• ISBN13: 9780989203500
• Publish Date: 1 October 2013
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Imprint: Persevero Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 289
• Language: English

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series growing up. Twenty years later, I still set aside time for Hallmark's Little House on the Prairie Marathons and am just as enraptured by her books as I was at age eight. It recently came out the Laura's daughter Rose may have been the steamroller behind the writing. Between my nostalgic love and curiosity by this new snippet of information the novel, A Wilder Rose grabbed my interest.

During a rewrite of By the Shores of Silver Lake Rose takes the time to reminisce with a young aspiring author, making the bones of this storytelling. As informative as these break-ins were I think I preferred the flashbacks, Rose's protege annoyed me and felt it took some meat away from the bones. As for Rose herself, she came off as a whiny kid. maybe my childhood self was siding with Laura but Rose got on my nerves and had to put down this book numerous times.

Rose's story got repetitive, she lives at Rocky Ridge until she feels stifled and must purge herself of Mansfield. After her leave, she complains of the burden editing the Little House books is and prohibits her from working on her own material. Eventually she ends up back at Rocky Ridge and the cycle continues. It became tedious.

While I found Susan Wittig Albert's writing to be agreeable the fan girl in me was disappointed. Laura came off as petty and was described by Rose the way a sixteen year would after being grounded. I did think the concept was a good one and does make me want to read a biography or even some of Rose Wilder Lane's original work but as for A Wilder Rose, I think it could have been better executed.

[lovelybookshelf]

Originally posted on my blog, A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall:

Like Jennifer at The Relentless Reader, I initially had reservations about reading A Wilder Rose. I didn't want my fond childhood memories of Little House on the Prairie shattered! After reading Jennifer's review, I decided to go ahead and give this book a try.

I'm so glad I did! The real story isn't as scandalous as I feared, and really, I think the mother-daughter collaboration was a wonderful thing. It did feel a bit odd, trying to reconcile the Laura Ingalls Wilder of this book with the Melissa Gilbert version in my mind. But in the end, I appreciated having a more realistic portrayal.

The book alternates perspectives, starting out with Rose Wilder Lane's student Norma Lee inquiring about her mentor's life. The narrative in these scenes felt a little too simple to me, almost like reading a middle-grade novel. It was fine, just not quite what I expected from a historical fiction novel geared toward adults. Then, as Rose told Norma Lee her story, the story shifts to a first person account, and those pages completely drew me in. I was thankful that Rose's perspective made up the bulk of the book.

The author does a phenomenal job expressing Rose's libertarian side as is - without spin - and we see clearly why Rose Wilder Lane is considered one of the "founding mothers of the American libertarianism movement." Thanks to this novel, I'm completely inspired to go read Rose Wilder Lane's work.

This book is a very satisfying read, and I think even those who aren't fans of Little House (if those even exist?!) would enjoy it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.