Historical Fiction / WWII / Action & Drama / International Mystery
Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press
Date of Publication: February 21, 2023
Number of Pages: 372 pages
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Since the early 1940s, THE GOLD ROSE, a secret rescue agency with Asian origins, has used unique systems to ferret out and save victims in every corner of the world. Charlotte Hunt-Basse has faced dangerous and often deadly challenges in her decade as an agent with the agency, not the least of which was the past rescues of two of her assignments, Pinkie and Babe.
Two-year-old Pinkie is discovered abandoned on a dirt road during a violent storm. She is whisked off to Mexico by oil heir Clint Sutton and his girlfriend, Angelina, as they attempt to escape the lies of Clint’s father’s second wife. Three years later, Pinkie is stolen away to Argentina by an aging Romani. Pinkie suffers from the malice of her captor but wins the fatherly love of a Buenos Aires circus owner and his fiance. Shortly after landing in the crosshairs of THE GOLD ROSE, Pinkie’s life takes two more shocking twists. When the agency locates Pinkie again, Agent Charlotte must throw all caution to the wind to rescue her.
Babe, the child of Texas-based missionaries, is hidden by two Chinese families during the Japanese invasion and ensuing Communist takeover of China. She is forced by the second family to live incognito as a “boy” for several years to save her from soldiers invading China from the North. Martial arts are banned, but the grandfather of the family teaches Babe Yǒng Chūn in deepest secrecy. The civil war escalates, and Babe finds herself on a dangerous quest for survival as she journeys alone through enemy territory toward the faintest hope of rescue.
“If broken hearts made noise, the room would be filled with clatter.”
The Gold Rose by Jodi Lea Stewart is an interesting amalgam of stories that appear disparate at first but coalesce into a brilliant saga of lives intertwining and interlocking across the years. Pinkie, Babe, and Charlotte seemingly have nothing in common, but is that true? Are we not all connected on this small planet in some way? The Gold Rose is ultimately about suffering and saving; revenge and redemption; and war and peace across countries and within hearts. But what exactly is the link throughout this unique, unrestrained fiction? Enter altruism on the global stage and an embossed gold rose on a black business card.
Only Charlotte’s narrative, in 1958, is first person point of view, setting her role apart in this historical fiction as a new agent at the underground ROSE Organization. How does she know Babe and Pinkie, whose distressing and dangerous childhoods in the 1940s unfold throughout? The answer and more (so much more) are revealed methodically and skillfully across this literary journey.
The ROSE Organization is an unequivocally wonderful yet heartbreakingly flawed idea, especially when it is still nascent in 1948. The very act of secretly helping others has traditionally been a battle between good and evil, even from within and among trained and trusted cohorts, and Jodi Lea Stewart adroitly highlights this painful truth across the pages of The Gold Rose. But not all is melancholy in this literary gem. Many characters are good and delightful and will capture your heart, such as Clint in Texas; Bonzini in Argentina; and, my personal favorite, sweet and likable Luka.
Stewart’s writing is detailed and purposeful, outlining Babe’s terror and bravery in China; Pinkie’s mistreatment and resilience in Mexico, Argentina, and then Los Angeles; and Charlotte’s determination to save them both. This well-told story will sink deeply into the thoughts and hearts of readers and leave a lasting impression and the desire to read more from this talented author.
Enter the giveaway below on or before April 21, 2023, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes.
I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.
Jodi Lea Stewart is a fiction author who centers her themes around the triumph of overcoming adversity through grit, humor, and hard-rock tenacity. Born in Texas and growing up in Arizona smelling cedar berries and cow pens on a large cattle ranch wedged between the Navajo Nation and the White Mountain Apache Tribe, most of her friends were Native American and Hispanic, with a few Anglos thrown in for good measure. On the ranch, she climbed petroglyph-etched boulders, sang to chickens, bounced two feet in the air in the backend of pickups wrestling through washed-out terracotta roads, and rode horseback on the winds of her imagination through the arroyos and mountains of the Arizona high country. Later, she left her studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson to move to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she didn’t want to do with her life.
Moving back to her native Texas, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised three+ children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 corporate newsletter. Her lifelong friendship with all shades of folks, cowpunchers, southern belles, intellectuals, and “outlaws” propels Jodi into writing comfortably about the Southwest, the South, and far beyond. She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, two wild and crazy Standard poodles, one rescue cat, her fun-loving ninety-plus-year-old mom, a never-be-still-four-year-old tornado, and numerous bossy houseplants.
