Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart
The summer of 1947. Her return to her childhood home. And a web of mysterious family matters.
Subscribe for free to Gentle Reads Fiction to get recommendations of uplifting stories that have very little to no profanity and no explicit sex or graphic violence.
Historical Mystery | Small-Town Fiction
Description
With its pretty thatched roof and rustic English setting, Rose Cottage is the picture of tranquility. But when Kate Herrick returns to her childhood home in the summer of 1947, she discovers a web of intrigue as tangled as the rambling roses in its garden.
My Thoughts
I'd never heard of this author until a few days before I started this historical mystery.
Creepy Here, Cozy There—and There
Oh, this isn't a mystery in the sense of a detective or an amateur sleuth trying to solve a murder case or what have you, and it isn't "edge of your seat" suspenseful reading. Rather, it's a low-key, thoughtfully paced, small-town story with a heroine trying to figure out some mysterious family matters.
The read involves a somewhat creepy factor, but it's the "Scooby-Doo" kind. That is, the kind where "the scary monsters" aren't really monsters. And given the pleasant descriptions of flowers and sunny skies, warm scones and cups of tea, friendly neighbors, gentle hints of romance—and in the edition I read, the cozy little illustrations at the start of each chapter—even the creepy-ish bits couldn't make this story dark or anything.
Mere Quirks?
Now, what kept this from ever really becoming a comfortable read for me were the expressions of bigotry toward a certain people group. The bigotry in the story doesn't come off as malicious but shows through several of the characters as fear, certain ignorant blanket presumptions they make, etc. It isn't fictional characters' bigotry that necessarily bothers me but rather when those undertones or overtones are pretty much presented like mere character quirks, or like "that's just the way it is."
More from this Author?
Hopefully, the issue above isn't present in all or most of this author's novels, because I plan on trying at least one more sometime.
Content Note
There’s a smidgen of violence: namely, a brief mention of a past, childhood fight that resulted in bloody noses or something on that level.
Like what you see here?
You’re welcome to check out the books I write: fiction of hope and inspiration, featuring diverse and uncommon lead characters in a medley of genres.
