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Tending Roses (Tending Roses Series, Book 1) by Lisa Wingate
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Lisa Wingate Edition: Mass Market Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2003-02-04 ISBN: 0451205790 Number of pages: 336 Publisher: Signet
Book Reviews of Tending Roses (Tending Roses Series, Book 1)Book Review: A BOOK TO SAVOR Summary: 5 Stars
Tending Roses is a book to read slowly and savor. Wingate's writing sings with quiet beauty of the Ozark mountains, as she considers the lives of an ordinary family struggling with the issues that plague families in modern society. The story is meaningful and insightful on many levels. The writing is skillful and the characters real and fully-drawn, both flawed and heroic. The writing is emotional but never syrupy or maudlin.
As Kate travels to her grandmother's farm to be the designated caretaker for her aging Grandma Rose, she is unprepared for the changes that await her at the farm. Frustrated with her own life, overstressed after the birth of a child with serious health issues, and struggling in a marriage that is at the breaking point, Kate resents having to go take care of Grandma Rose until the family can convince her to move to a nursing home. Her husband, Ben, is obsessed with his work, struggling with the extra financial pressures resulting from overwhelming medical bills and inadequate health insurance. Both Kate and Ben are searching for something, but they don't know what. Their journey, as they adjust to life at the farm, and begin to take in the wisdom of cantankerous Grandma Rose, is both realistic and indicative of the best qualities in the human soul.
Tending Roses is not only good reading, but good for the soul. It's the type of story that lives with you long after you finish the final page.
Summary of Tending Roses (Tending Roses Series, Book 1)?The best times of my life, the times that have passed by me the most quickly, were the times when the roses grew wild.? The lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. That?s what Kate Bowman learns when she moves temporarily?with her husband and baby son?to her grandmother?s Missouri farm. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who?s become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother?s heart. Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandma?s journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of stories that celebrate the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Kate see her life?and her grandmother?in a completely new way?. First-time author Lisa Wingate drew upon her relationship with her grandmother for inspiration in writing Tending Roses. Her sensitive and able crafting of language, character, and situation pierces through the turmoil and stress of everyday life, illuminating its message with almost painful intensity: "Maybe you should start wanting less." Wingate's words resonate as readers are introduced to Kate Bowman, her architect husband Ben, and their infant son. Kate, on maternity leave from her high-profile Chicago job, has been given the unenviable task of convincing her increasingly frail and forgetful grandmother that she can no longer live alone on the Missouri farm that has been her home for almost half a century. Kate and Ben are struggling to deal with mounting debts and medical bills as they strive to build a lifestyle, rather than a life. Frustrated by dealing with her stubborn, if well-meaning, grandmother, Kate finds solace and clarity in Grandma Rose's handwritten journal. The simple stories of earlier, less complicated times renew Kate's understanding of the truly important things in life. Through the journal, Kate discovers the essence of the remarkable Grandma Rose and is forced to reevaluate her priorities and those of her family. Simply put, Wingate's aim is to exhort readers to "stop and smell the roses." The daily race to achieve and have more, more, more is clearly and all-too-accurately portrayed in these pages. I guarantee readers will stop to think of their own lives and where they are spending their energies. Let's hope Lisa Wingate has other relatives as inspiring as Grandma Rose for future novels. --Alison Trinkle
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