The Cherokee Rose: A Novel of Gardens and Ghosts

Not since Lalita Tademy's Cane River have I read a historical novel that is so thoroughly researched and so beautifully written. Cherokee Rose is based on the author's (tremendous) research of the Vann House in Northwest Georgia.

In the story, a former Cherokee plantation turned museum known as Hold House is being sold due to a lack of funds. The sale of the former home of a Cherokee Chieftain (with white and Cherokee blood) brings forth the interest of many locals who share a past with the old mansion. Three women come to the old mansion for different reasons. Cheyenne, who claims to have a Native American ancestor that once lived at the house, plans to buy Hold House and convert it into a bed and breakfast. Jinx is a young Muscogee show more historian sent by her tribe to find out what happened to a tribal member that had lived on the plantation but did not take the Trail of Tears north. Ruth, a writer for a home magazine up north is here on assignment. She and Cheyenne share a past. Add the ghost of a young Muscogee woman and a mysterious diary, and you get a story you can't put down.

This story covers a little-known but very important part of Native American and Southern history. Before the white man came here and removed the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, Northwest Georgia was owned and farmed by the Cherokee. What many people don't know is that there were Cherokee who owned slaves. Although I grew up here on what was Cherokee land, and I have heard stories of the old plantations that were here, I was never taught much about my own local history while in school. This is why I am so glad to see this book! When history covers the South, it mostly concentrates on the white-owned plantations of southern Georgia. Students are not taught the history of the northern part of the state, which is very different. The story delves into the history of the plantation, the three races that came together there, and how their fates were intertwined.

I highly recommend this book to any lover of historical fiction or history buff. Miles' writing style makes the read enjoyable. Her characters are very well-rounded and believable. This one is a keeper. show less

As an archivist, I enjoyed this book immensely, because it seemed to be a historian's extended meditation on finding the primary source of her dreams. The action is split between a modern group of women who join together to preserve the story of a southern plantation house that was once owned by a cruel Cherokee slaveholder. They find a diary that tells the story of the lives of the women who were subject to the capricious cruelty of the master and how women of three cultures --Cherokee, African and European -- joined together to fight back.

This book was easy to read and written very well. Even though it is a fiction book I got some insight to an area of Cherokee history that until now I knew nothing about. I plan on reading some of this authors historical books on the Cherokee.

Three women and a haunted plantation with a history. This is no ordinary plantation. It was once owned by a rich Cherokee chief who had slaves. Not just a few slaves either. There were 115 present when he died. The novel has great storyline with distinct and different characters. We get to know the characters and become aware of their weaknesses and witness their growth. The story takes us into the past through the diary that they find. Life of the plantation comes alive through the diary entries. We learn about being a slave, being an indian and being mixed and the boundaries of social class.

I had heard of slaves being of mixed native american and african american blood, but I have to say until this book I never thought about the show more implications that this presented. This is a very interesting piece of the slavery puzzle. Many people probably don’t know about this on either side of the cultures. My own grandmother was said to be of Native American descent and this was something that we didn’t talk about. It is such a shame to lose this part of our family history.

The novel itself is well written and very eventful. It was a fast read for me. I think 2 days!! This is a no brainer for me. I like plantation stories, slave stories and ghost stories so I have to say that this one piqued my interest at the library right off the bat!! (It is baseball season now you know!!)) I think that this one is definitely a home run!! I give this one a 4 out of 5 stars. show less

This book is based on the Chief Vann House in North Georgia, in the former Cherokee Nation. I enjoyed some of the history that was discovered by the characters in the book, but it seems that the author's purpose was to vilify the Cherokee leader completely for having been a slave owner during the time period when that was legal. He wasn't exactly a stellar citizen, but this novel paints him as evil incarnate. The other distraction I found was first, trying to figure out the races of the girls in the modern part of the story (I like to visualize my characters, so I found this confusing for a while). I also did not think the inclusion of a lesbian relationship was necessary to the story, and it felt like it was simply inserted to reach show more some level of political correctness. To me, this took away from the story. The author does explain her research (very well done) and why she deviated from it for the sake of the story. show less

Beautiful story about modern descendants excavating the largely undocumented history of property owned by a mixed Indigenous/White slaveholder on a Georgia plantation in the pre-Civil War 19th century. Well written, although there were large sections of fictional journal entries that interrupted the narrative action and might have been better incorporated in smaller pieces. I won a galley proof copy of this paperback in a Goodreads giveaway. I would like to thank the author, Tiya Miles, and Penguin-Random House for sending it to me!