House of Crimson Roses
by Chad Lester
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Pub Date Jun 20 2025 | Archive Date Feb 17 2025
Featured Reviews

I had mixed views about this title. I love the cover; it’s striking and has relevance to the content. The story starts with an almost literal bang with John Brown at Harper’s Ferry. The next section had me close to tears as Emma and her father, both slaves, tried to make their escape. It’s raw and the scene really came to life. Emma is recaptured and the real story starts.
This is often an uncomfortable read, and rightly so. Chad’s writing is almost visceral at times and he brings the horror of slavery to life. I could almost feel and smell the terror. He captures the brutality of slavery and I felt a mixture of compassion, sadness and anger. That’s an indication of powerful writing. I was a little thrown initially by the use of a dash instead of punctuation, but went with it. It quickly developed a rhythm of its own; I found it less intrusive and overall it added to the pace of the narrative, particularly with short, snappy exchanges. It’s an unusual convention, although I understand it was used by Cormac McCarthy in The Road. I listened to an audio version of that title and didn’t pick up on that. Abandoning grammar is bold and brave and in this context I believe it works really well, although it will doubtless irritate some readers.
As for the story, it’s packed with characters and incident. There’s power,, greed, abuse, romance, some redemption and a bit of retribution. It’s not perfect; I was slightly confused by the flow a couple of times, but it certainly gives a real flavour and insight into that challenging time in a work of fiction. Overall, I enjoyed it. It’s challenging, haunting and emotive. It made me think and reflect. Very different to his earlier work. It’s a brave departure; as a British reader, it opens up a whole new and disturbing world.

Review of eBook . . . Two and one-half stars
In 1859, John Brown leads a motley crew on a raid on the armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. But nothing goes as planned and John finds himself on trial. The verdict? Death by hanging.
In 1860, Emma has a special talent in caring for the horses. But, in order to close a horse-selling deal, Master Anderson sells her to Miles Beaumont despite her father’s protests. That night, Emma and her father try to run away . . . if they reached Pennsylvania, they would be free . . . but they are caught and Emma is handed over to a new master.
What awaits Emma now?
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This masters and slaves historical fiction story, set in the time of the Civil War, is often difficult to read. The treatment endured by the slaves at the hands of those who “own” them is heart-wrenching. Surprisingly, the mistress of the plantation, Elmira Beaumont, is virtually ignored by her husband as he relentlessly seeks power. When Emma is befriended by Isaiah, it seems as if things might be looking up for the young woman, but some unexpected plot twists change everything.
Sadly, this book is extremely difficult to read. The author has abandoned quotation marks, choosing to indicate speech by an elongated dash in front of the words being spoken by the character. Not only is this confusing [particularly in the beginning when readers encounter it with no warning or explanation], but it tends to pull the reader out of the telling of the tale. There are some conventions in English writing that authors need to respect . . . and proper use of punctuation marks is one of them.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Chad Lester and NetGalley
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