Essie's Roses

by Michelle Muriel

Overview

Growing up in the Deep South during the years leading to the Civil War, two young girls find freedom on a hillside overlooking Westland, an Alabama plantation. Essie Mae, an intuitive, intelligent slave girl, and Evie Winthrop, the sheltered, imaginative dreamer and planter's daughter, strike up a secret friendship that thrives amidst the shadows of abuse.

Told from the viewpoint of four women: Katherine Winthrop, kind mistress and unexpected heiress to her father's small, cotton plantation; Delly, her sassy and beloved house slave; Essie Mae, her slave girl; and Evie Winthrop, Katherine's only child, Essie's Roses tells of forbidden relationships flourishing in secret behind Westland's protective trees and treasured roses.

After scandal befalls Westland, Evie and Essie, aged nineteen, travel to Richmond, Virginia, to escape their abusive pasts. There, they face the gross indecencies and divisions leading to the War Between the States. Though the horrors of slavery and discrimination prompt action, Evie and Essie's struggles lie within. The secrets they hold and the pain of the past lead them away from one another and back home again.

A story about a black slave who frees a white woman, Essie's Roses reveals the innocence of children's friendships, the diverse meanings of freedom, the significance of a dream, and the power of love. In their efforts to save each other, will the women of Westland find the true freedom they desire?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780990938323
Publisher:	Little Cabin Books LLC
Publication date:	06/16/2015
Pages:	346
Sales rank:	206,832
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michelle Muriel holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and after graduating, she worked as a professional actress, a member of Actors' Equity and The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for almost twenty years, doing theater, voice-over, and commercial work. She is also a songwriter and musician. Michelle lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband and two quirky Border collies. She first developed Essie's Roses as a screenplay. This is her debut novel. She is currently at work on her second.

Editorial Reviews

Michelle Muriel's tremendously impressive debut novel takes place in the Antebellum South and centers on the experiences of four remarkable women: Katherine Winthrop, a sweet-natured woman who comes to find herself the owner of Westland, an Alabama cotton plantation; Delly, her strong-willed house slave and confidant; Evie, Katherine's daughter, and Essie May, a young slave girl who forms a deep and life-changing friendship with young Evie.

As the two girls grow to young adulthood, the world around them darkens and agitates more and more toward the triggering events of the American Civil War, and when the two travel to Richmond, Virginia, on the eve of war, they are exposed to the worst depravities of a depraved society. Their friendship is tested in several very dramatic ways.

Muriel does an extremely confident job of moving her complex, multi-part novel forward. Her characters are vividly drawn, and the many period details - social, linguistic, and even literary - with which she fleshes out her story never feel forced or melodramatic.

Fans of both Gone with the Wind and Geraldine Brooks' March will find Essie's Roses a richly moving reading experience. -Historical Novel Society

Historical Novel Society

"Impressively well written from beginning to end, "Essie's Roses" is an inherently absorbing and skillfully presented read, establishing author Michelle Muriel as an exceptionally talented novelist." -Midwest Book Review

Midwest Book Review

I have finished my reading of Essie's Roses and all I can say is — wow, what an amazing read. What a well-written, completely believable and insightful book. Essie's Roses is a 'fictional' novel, yet it encompasses the same importance of message, and will certainly remind readers of their intrinsic knowledge of right versus wrong with the same quiet strength of conviction that Harriet Beecher Stowe provided to her readers when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Additionally though, this book is much more than just that. Essie's Roses is the beautifully poignant tale of two girls; one white, the other colored — who grow up together (but still separate) during the mid-1800s. This is the story of their heartfelt and true love for one another. An accounting showing how they are each able to overcome the odds of the lives they have been born into. For even though slavery (the subjugation of an entire race due only to the 'infraction' of being born a different color) was commonly accepted as 'right' during our country's younger years; this book will force the reader to look even further beyond that misconception — in order to acknowledge that there are many additional forms of slavery; and that they each stem from cruelty, coupled with a complete and utter disregard for the pricelessness of another human's soul.

In Essie's Roses, the reader will begin his, or her, literary journey with a very poignant show of love — as a young colored girl named Essie Mae seeks to save the life of her (white) best-friend, Evie Winthrop. Essie Mae also understands that to be caught would result in the loss of her own life, but she cannot — more importantly will not; leave her best friend to suffer alone.

From here, the story continues — providing the reader with a brief glimpse into the lives of the mothers who birthed these two girls, before the story again moves forward and focuses on each one of the two very different, yet very similar, lives of Essie Mae and Evie.

While I could provide the potential reader with additional information about this amazing and riveting novel — I choose not to. The power of the words and the story found within Essie's Roses needs to be discovered by the reader for her or himself.

Quill says: Michelle Muriel has penned a wonderfully moving work of fiction — and one that will leave no reader with a dry eye. I fully expect to see Essie's Roses on the silver screen someday, but until then I will simply look forward to reading future works by this author. Five Stars (and then add some more)!

Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Miss Muriel's novel is a thing of beauty. I loved the changing perspectives. It was refreshing to see various points of view of the same story, and the author did it seamlessly. I could tell the author took a great deal of time researching the era, and that is something I always appreciate in a historical novel. Overall, Essie's Roses will make you laugh and cry, but most of all, appreciate the innocence of children's friendship. Michelle Muriel should be very proud of her accomplishment in this novel and I will happily recommend it on to others.

Readers' Favorite - Heather Osborne