Customer Reviews

Where the Wild Rose Grows

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By Mitch Traphagen

mitch@observernews.net

There is an easy test to see if someone is listening, to find out if the story you tell is interesting. While telling a story, simply stop in the middle of it. If no one asks, "So what happened next?" then you can be sure no one was listening.

While reading "Where the Wild Rose Grows" by Penny Fletcher, I had to stop in the middle to photographs a few events. I left wondering what will happen next. In fact, I couldn't wait to get back to the book to find out.

Where the Wild Rose Grows is a story of a gifted young woman growing up in a difficult, actually tragic time. Fletcher skillfully opens a door in the pages of her book allowing the reader to come inside. Without resorting to gimmicks, she allows the reader to vividly experience both the sadness and joy of a setting that for some is not purely fiction. The imagery is finally crafted and the story unfolds in the mind of the reader rather than simply on the printed page.

Despite never having personally experienced it, I was able to feel only too well the desolation and, for many at least, the loss of hope created by the abject poverty of her 1960s rural Tennessee setting. And despite what seemed to be an utterly hopeless situation, the reader is never left to feel hopeless. Throughout the book, the reader is allowed to hold on to a strong sense of goodness and hope that transcends the story.

In terms of the story, it is good. Actually, it is excellent. There is enough detail to allow the reader to feel they know the characters, both good and bad, yet one is never mired down by an overabundance of minutiae. The story is so finely paced that even gaps of months in the storyline do not leave the reader feeling as though they were forced to jump from one period to the next. The story flows well from beginning to end.

In technical terms the books shines as well. Quite often books that were not produced by the major publishing houses suffer from a lesser degree of proofreading and editing. The stories are often among the best but the message is distorted by forcing the reader to overcome a limited editing budget. This is simply not the case with Where the Wild Rose Grows. Editing is extremely tight and no proofreading omissions were found. This is clearly a book of the highest standards.

Even some of our most famous authors often have difficulty ending their books. Fletcher managed to quickly wrap up her story and it ended well. In finishing the book, I only had one problem with it. I wanted to know what happened to Wild Rose as she grew up. I closed the book wondering, "What happens next?"

SUMMARY: South Hillsborough County has produced a number of outstanding authors and Penny Fletcher has taken her place at the top of that select group. Her story is no lightweight; it is thoughtful, painful and joyful with outstanding imagery. The setting is powerful and the characters come to life in the mind. I would highly recommend Where the Wild Rose Grows.

Reprinted with permission from the Observer News (www.observernews.net)

I really loved this story... It spoke to me in many ways, not the least of which was Ms. Fletcher's writing. It began in 1960. Funny, for me, that doesn't seem long ago and, what was striking was that it opened into a scene that, perhaps, really would have more naturally occurred one hundred years before that...

John Elk was in the midst of a healing. The white woman had been brought because the white man's medicine was not strong enough. John Elk had no problem in using his gift from the Great Spirit for all... But in the midst of that activity, another was started. Two white men rode into the camp--to kill, to steal, and to seek babies they could later sell. Wild Rose was one of those children. She was four when taken--this is her story.

By 1968, Priscilla (Cilla) was living with a woman she considered her stepmother, along with her two children. Like Cinderella, as the oldest, Cilla was made to do most of the work and care for the two little girls. But Cilla had grown to love them as sisters and had even begun to steal in order to ensure the little girls had something to eat.

Rayline was an alcoholic who worked in bars and then later partied there. While the children slept on a bare mattress in a corner of a kitchen, Rayline would share her bed with the latest man she met. Sometimes her ex-husband, who had first stolen Cilla and brought her there, would come to visit. If a man was already there, he would sleep on the couch. He was the father of the two little girls and was grateful for Cilla's care. But he would soon leave to continue his life of thievery.

Cilla was in school, but her mother had made it quite clear that Cilla was never to tell anybody about where and how it was at home. No friends were ever to be invited. Fortunately, they did have a television and old reruns of shows with Donna Reed and other home-related stories allowed her to learn how "some" families lived. Cilla was also lucky that their school provided two meals and some of that food and what she could steal from the lunch bags of other children was oftentime only what was provided to her sisters.

Cilla was intelligent and had learned of Robin Hood so she knew it was alright to steal from the rich and give to the poor--so she chose only the lunches of those children she knew had rich parents...

Cilla was also a special little girl. Since she had been stolen, she had had guardians who came to her in her dreams to guide her and teach her of the ways of her ancestors. While she had not realized she was "not" white as a younger girl, she began to notice and understand more as she got older.

But as Cilla grew older, she had learned from her mother that smoking took away the desire for food, so she started to steal cigarettes. That plus other issues began to have a concerned teacher quietly monitoring what Cilla was doing. When Cilla had to stay later, for instance, she would watch as she left, lit a cigarette and hitched a ride home. One day she started asking Cilla questions and soon Welfare officials were involved.

The children were taken from Rayline, but when they tried to place her, no birth certificate could be provided and no research resulted in who Cilla really was. For Cilla's name was really "Wild Rose." And everything had been arranged by her guardians to bring her home!

The climatic conclusion of this story is soooo satisfyingly wonderful. It might have been Penny Fletcher's imagination that wrote this, but the story readers will actually see the workings of the Great Spirit as He might have done it through his own activities! A thoroughly enjoyable and heartwarming story that is truly memorable!

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GABixlerReviews

"WHERE THE WILD ROSE GROWS" is an expertly crafted work of fiction and before you know it, you find yourself pulled into the story and life of its main character 'Cilla.'

Intense and heartfelt, Cilla's character is well rounded, distinct and comes alive as you journey with her through her tragic and at times hopeless situation life has placed her in. The author has you hoping and wanting the best for her and unable to stop thinking about what happens to her next when you put the book down. Penny Fletcher has created an unforgettable character, and written a powerful and moving novel.

I felt that I knew Cilla personally and was pulling for her all the way. What an inspirational story! Give this book to anyone who has had a difficult childhood.