Sharp Objects meets My Lovely Wife in this tightly drawn debut that peels back the layers of the most complicated of mother-daughter relationships…
For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.
Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.
After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.
Patty insists all she wants is to reconcile their differences. She says she’s forgiven Rose Gold for turning her in and testifying against her. But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty Watts always settles a score.
Unfortunately for Patty, Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling…
And she’s waited such a long time for her mother to come home
About the Author:
Stephanie Wrobel grew up in Chicago but has been living in the UK for the last three years with her husband and dog, Moose Barkwinkle. She has an MFA from Emerson College and has had short fiction published in Bellevue Literary Review. Before turning to fiction, she worked as a creative copywriter at various advertising agencies.
Darling Rose Gold (US)/The Recovery of Rose Gold (UK) is her first novel, coming March 17, 2020
My Review:
Oh dear where do I begin? Firstly this is one seriously f*cked up, twisted, dark and seriously uncomfortable book and secondly I absolutely LOVED it. Everything about this book ticked my warped and disturbed mind.
To say I devoured this book in almost one sitting is not an exaggeration – it’s literally UNPUTDOWNABLE. The Recovery of Rose Gold (or Darling Rose Gold in the US) is one hell of a powerful and disturbing debut novel from Stephanie Wrobel.
Told from the viewpoints of Patty Watts, a devoted and misunderstood mother who has just been released from serving 5 years in prison for aggravated child abuse and her daughter, Rose Gold Watts now 22 years and trying to rebuild her life and reconnect with Patty despite the horrendous childhood she endured at the hands of her mother.
The story alternates from the present and events leading up to Patty’s arrest and the five years she was in prison and it doesn’t hurt that both women are “bat-shit crazy” and slightly unreliable narrators throughout.
I don’t want to admit that I “enjoyed” this book because the subject matter is really uncomfortable and dark, but my obviously depraved mind and dry sense of humour absolutely LOVED it.
If you like twisted and deeply flawed characters in a story that both sickens and entertains you then I am 100% guaranteed you will love this book as much as I did. The only downside is that it’s not available to buy until March 2020 – but in my opinion it is definitely worth the wait.
