Chasing the Rose: An Adventure in the Venetian Countryside

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This book was an absolute delight, full of luminescent joy. The author discovered letters, a diary, and other correspondence from his great-great-great-great-grandmother Lucia, who was a friend of the Empress Josephine Bonaparte. She was a fascinating woman, but by the author’s time, all the author had of hers to remember her was an unusual rosebush, unnamed and unknown.

In his biography of Lucia, the author mentioned this rosebush. This started him down an incredible path to identify it, which he chronicles in Chasing the Rose. He befriends the ‘Grand Lady of Roses’ of Italy, who collects and tends hundreds of varieties in her personal garden. He meets the author and publisher of the main rose collecting magazine. He becomes acquainted with rose-lovers from across the world. His ancestor’s story is wrapped up in the story of this rose she brought back from Paris, and in the author’s story of his search for its identity. Full of sparkling humor and considerate, well-drawn and affectionate portraits of those he meets, you know the author treasures the journey he experiences. He has a wonderful appreciation for the beautiful moments in life, for his relationships, and for his grandmother’s gift of these to him, stemming from her love for a rose.


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Author
Star Count 5/5
Format Hard
Page Count 224 pages
Publisher Knopf
Publish Date 2014-May-06
ISBN 9780307962928
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue July 2014
Category Home & Garden
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