Rose in Bloom

An older and more mature Rose and Phebe navigate love and loss while coming into their own in this sequel to Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women!

Years ago, when Rose Campbell was adopted by her Uncle Alec, she befriended housemaid Phebe Moore, and the two became close as sisters—although with Phebe always aware of their difference in social standing. Now young women, Phebe and Rose return from an extended trip to Europe to make their entrance into society. Uncle Alec disapproves of fashionable society, but Rose makes a deal with him: she’ll have three months to attend parties and be courted before she returns to his way of living.

As a wealthy heiress, Rose has no shortage of invitations, and she’s quickly caught up in the excitement of the glamorous evenings. It’s not long before she captures the interest of several suitors as well. However, separating the people who like her from those who like her money is more challenging than Rose had anticipated. Meanwhile, Phebe struggles to make a life she can be proud of without always depending on Rose’s generosity.

But both friends’ new paths are derailed when their loved ones are put in harm’s way by illness and reckless decisions, and the way Rose and Phebe rise to the occasion will show them who they are and who they want to be more than anything has before.

Louisa May Alcott was born in 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She is best known for Little Women (1968), which is loosely based on her own life and proved to be one of the most popular children’s books ever written. Three sequels followed: Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871), and Jo’s Boys (1886). Alcott was the daughter of the famous transcendentalist Bronson Alcott and was friend of Emerson and Thoreau. In addition to writing, she worked as a teacher, governess, and Civil War nurse, as well as being an advocate of abolition, women’s rights, and temperance. She died in 1888 and is buried in Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.