Camilla's Roses [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Bernice L. McFadden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2004

An Essence Bestselling Author

Camilla's Roses presents a life haunted by the past. Camilla's childhood was immersed in chaos and love, steeped in the myth of perfection. As an adult she never looked back, refusing to acknowledge the people and places that had scarred her so many years ago. But a legacy of cancer proves inescapable, forcing Camilla to embrace the past - no matter how painful it may be.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Camilla and her husband have successful careers and a beautiful young daughter. Then she discovers a lump in her breast and realizes too late that she has turned her back on the people whose support she needs the most. Generations of women in her family, moving from a southern small town to Queens, New York, have carried the middle name Rose, and some have carried a legacy of breast cancer. But Camilla has been estranged from her unruly family since she went to college, leaving behind a drug-addicted mother, a grandmother raising scads of abandoned grandchildren, and an addled great-aunt. Ashamed of her family and her race, she lightened her skin and adopted a false background. She is living a complete lie when tragedy strikes. McFadden, author of Sugar (2000) and This Bitter Earth (2002), will enrapture readers again as she moves between the past and the present and the perspectives of different characters to tell a story of family and reconciliation. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"It's easy to admire McFadden's fearless way with metaphor."
-- The Washington Post (Washington Post, DC )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (August 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786267925
• ISBN-13: 978-0786267927
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,631,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am mother, daughter, sister and friend. All I've ever wanted was to be happy. Writing makes me happy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Steel Roses! McFadden Delivers!!, June 7, 2004

By 

Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

Camilla's Roses, Bernice McFadden's latest release, is told in three parts: the present day when Camilla's husband discovers a lump in her breast, a flashback to the haunting past that she would rather erase, and a return to present day to face reality and her future. Camilla's middle name is Rose and all the women on her maternal side share the same middle name honoring a one-of-a-kind rosebush that only prospers and blooms on her great-great grandmother's land in Southern Georgia despite being stolen and clipped many times over the years.

Camilla suffers from an identify crisis and abandoned her family ten years ago. However, after learning about her childhood, one can understand her self-imposed exodus. Raised in a house full of cousins by her maternal grandmother (Velma Rose) and great aunt (Maggie Rose), Camilla seldom saw her heroin-addicted parents (Audrey Rose and Leroy Brown) and when she did, the results of the visits were disappointing and heartbreaking. Her childhood experiences causes her to develop an identity crisis that leads to serious skin bleaching and lying - to her friends about her family situation and to herself which proves to be most damaging.

With her usual flair, McFadden cuts to the core of humanity and deals with raw pain, loss, and suffering. This book deals with a multitude of issues: breast cancer, the affects of drug addiction, abandonment, self-hate, infidelity, etc. Every character is fully developed with a rich history and strong role in the plot - making it a well told story. The subject matter is dark and harrowing, but there is a silver lining embedded between the lines -- despite the despair, like the rose bush planted so long ago, Camilla and her "Roses" are made with a strong constitution and we are left with a glimmer of hope that they will be all right.

(...)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No greater love, 'cept God, June 1, 2004

By 

Flavah Reviewer (Winston Salem, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

A comfortable lifestyle rocked by a not so routine doctor's visit forces Camilla Rose Boston to face a past she'd rather forget. A less than stellar lineage comes face-to-face with the present when Camilla Rose, a long time wannabe is diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

"Where are your people?" A simple question that requires a complex answer.

Family, hmmmph.

Velma Rose, the disillusioned maternal grandmother who raised her and is still smarting from the loss of her first love.

Maggie Rose, once simple and beautiful, now just simple.

Her grandfather, Chuck, married to Velma Rose, a lifetime of loving a shadow of a woman whose heart was buried years ago.

Audrey Rose Brown, her drug-addicted mother whose thoughts are anywhere but on the daughter she brought into the world.

Leroy Brown, a father by birthright only.

Now, a well-known advice columnist, Camilla Rose is living the life she carefully crafted in college. A successful husband, a house in the 'burbs, and Zola, her contribution to being fruitful and multiplying come crashing down with the force of a demolition ball.

Images from yesteryear provoke unsettling memories from one who has abandoned her family. But when the chips are down and despair takes up residence, Camilla wonders if sage advice passed down through the generations has any merit. "Family is precious, t'aint nothing greater, 'cept God."

"Camilla's Roses" by Bernice McFadden is a moving, motion picture skillfully compressed within the covers of a book. Expertly mingling the past with the present in a series of vignettes the reader comes to know Camilla Rose Boston through the roots that spawned her.

With her knack for right on the money descriptive prose, realistic and flawed characters, and the bittersweet side of the human condition, Ms. McFadden regales readers with yet another classic literary rendering.

-(...)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Camilla's Roses proves the STRENGTH of family!, June 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

Bernice has really done it again. In Camilla's Roses, there are several messages that lie within the pages..however, the one I'd like to speak to is the FACT that no matter, FAMILY is ever so important in our lives. Bernice is a grand storyteller that I have enjoyed since she kicked the door down in the literary arena with "Sugar". If you have NEVER read anything by Bernice, you must do so soon. Bernice thanks for bringing these characters (THE ROSES) to our lives, they live on...in our memories, even after the last page in the book is turned.

BRAVO on another BEST SELLER!

Fan for LIFE,
SL