Review by: Kaylie Seed
Stephanie Wrobel’s debut novel Darling Rose Gold has come into the world during a very uncertain time, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming an instant hit. Wrobel has taken two perspectives and intertwined them to create a hauntingly chilling story about an extreme mother-daughter relationship filled with manipulation and deception. Darling Rose Gold shows just how far the love between a mother and daughter can go, and how dangerous that can be.
Patty has always been a doting mother willing to do anything to make sure that her darling Rose Gold is looked after and healthy. Which is why Patty can’t seem to understand why Rose Gold has turned on her after all she’s done for her. You see, Rose Gold grew up to be a very (constantly) sick child, leaving Rose Gold to realize that perhaps things are not as they seem. Patty ends up in jail for aggravated child abuse against her daughter and Rose Gold takes it upon herself to find out why her mother did what she did.
Wrobel’s main theme in Darling Rose Gold is the twisted relationship between Patty and Rose Gold. Patty believes that everything she’s done for Rose Gold has been out of love, to take care of her sick daughter and nurse her back to health. To expand on the mother-daughter relationship, Wrobel takes things further by giving the reader background information on Patty’s childhood and how she grew up. There has been much trauma in Patty’s life that she has not fully coped with and because of that the reader can see that there is some intergenerational trauma between Patty’s past and her relationship with Rose Gold. While Patty isn’t necessarily a good person, it is easy for the reader to see where some of her issues come from and Wrobel does a wonderful job giving the reader plenty of background so that they can make sense of the cruel actions that Patty commits. Patty and Rose Gold can both be unlikeable characters in different aspects which works really well within the story. The two of them together create a toxic environment where they feed off one another. Wrobel does an excellent job creating two characters that are both very different and yet very similar to each other.
Wrobel has created a fascinating piece of art that is bound to shock readers while keeping them entertained until the very end. Darling Rose Gold is incredibly well written and because of that, I am excited to see what Wrobel writes next. The prose is lovely and the story flows nicely which makes for an easy and enjoyable read. If you are a fan of Lisa Jewell and Gillian Flynn, or if you enjoy a great thriller, then do yourself a favour and grab a copy of Darling Rose Gold, you won’t be disappointed.