The Cherokee Rose: A Novel of Gardens and Ghosts

By Tiya Miles

The Cherokee Rose, written by Tiya Miles, award-winning historian and recipient of a recent MacArthur “genius grant”, examines a little-known aspect of America’s past—slaveholding by Southern Cherokees—and its legacy in the lives of three contemporary young women who are drawn to the Georgia plantation where scenes of extreme cruelty, and equally extraordinary compassion, are played out.

Tiya Miles has been selected for Ebony Magazine’s "Power 100" and The Grio’s "100 lists of African American leaders." Her non-fiction books, The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story and Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom received numerous prestigious awards. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she is a professor in American Culture, History, Afroamerican & African Studies, Native American Studies, and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan.

“With the character arcs and the exploration of an often-overlooked area of history—the Native American ownership of African slaves—this is a solid choice for book clubs that savor meaty discussions.” —Library Journal

“…[a] wrenching yet enlightening saga. Readers will be taken with the way this novel blends past and present.” —Publishers Weekly

“An enchanting examination of bloodlines, legacy and the myriad braches of a diverse family tree.” —Kirkus Reviews

“With both modern-day and historical characters equally believable in their desires and life journeys, this novel tells a little-known story that is complex and captivating.” —Foreword Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blair
• Release date: Oct 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9780895876362

Tiya Miles

Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Cundill History Prize, and the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. She has been awarded more than twenty historical and literary prizes for her books and articles on slavery and race. She is also the author of Ties That Bind, The House on Diamond Hill, The Cherokee Rose: A Novel of Gardens and Ghosts and Tales from the Haunted South, a published lecture series.

Reviews for The Cherokee Rose

[marysneedle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was easy to read and written very well. Even though it is a fiction book I got some insight to an area of Cherokee history that until now I knew nothing about. I plan on reading some of this authors historical books on the Cherokee.

[aprille_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As an archivist, I enjoyed this book immensely, because it seemed to be a historian's extended meditation on finding the primary source of her dreams. The action is split between a modern group of women who join together to preserve the story of a southern plantation house that was once owned by a cruel Cherokee slaveholder. They find a diary that tells the story of the lives of the women who were subject to the capricious cruelty of the master and how women of three cultures --Cherokee, African and European -- joined together to fight back.

[hobbitprincess · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is based on the Chief Vann House in North Georgia, in the former Cherokee Nation. I enjoyed some of the history that was discovered by the characters in the book, but it seems that the author's purpose was to vilify the Cherokee leader completely for having been a slave owner during the time period when that was legal. He wasn't exactly a stellar citizen, but this novel paints him as evil incarnate. The other distraction I found was first, trying to figure out the races of the girls in the modern part of the story (I like to visualize my characters, so I found this confusing for a while). I also did not think the inclusion of a lesbian relationship was necessary to the story, and it felt like it was simply inserted to reach some level of political correctness. To me, this took away from the story. The author does explain her research (very well done) and why she deviated from it for the sake of the story.

[pattymclpn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Three women and a haunted plantation with a history. This is no ordinary plantation. It was once owned by a rich Cherokee chief who had slaves. Not just a few slaves either. There were 115 present when he died. The novel has great storyline with distinct and different characters. We get to know the characters and become aware of their weaknesses and witness their growth. The story takes us into the past through the diary that they find. Life of the plantation comes alive through the diary entries. We learn about being a slave, being an indian and being mixed and the boundaries of social class. I had heard of slaves being of mixed native american and african american blood, but I have to say until this book I never thought about the implications that this presented. This is a very interesting piece of the slavery puzzle. Many people probably don’t know about this on either side of the cultures. My own grandmother was said to be of Native American descent and this was something that we didn’t talk about. It is such a shame to lose this part of our family history. The novel itself is well written and very eventful. It was a fast read for me. I think 2 days!! This is a no brainer for me. I like plantation stories, slave stories and ghost stories so I have to say that this one piqued my interest at the library right off the bat!! (It is baseball season now you know!!)) I think that this one is definitely a home run!! I give this one a 4 out of 5 stars.