Mystical Rose - Hardcover

Scrimger, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385259549 ISBN 13: 9780385259545

Publisher: Doubleday of Canada, 2001

Synopsis

Set primarily in Toronto, with brief stops in Philadelphia and New York, Mystical Rose spans from the 1920s to the 1990s. The story is told in flashbacks, revelations from the disordered mind of the elderly Rose, who, confronting death, has entered into a conversation with God. She revisits her life as an English-born girl growing up in the small town of Cobourg, Ontario. When her father returns from the First World War a burnt-out shell of his former self, her family's reduced circumstances force Rose into domestic service. Shortly after she enters the wealthy Rolyoke household, Rose finds herself married to the scion of the family and transported into a world she struggles to understand.

With lyrical, precise prose and haunting images, Richard Scrimger captures the tale of a woman never quite in control of her own destiny, yet determined to deal with all that life presents.

About this title

Review:

"Everyone knows dementia is not funny. Except -- in Scrimger's deft hands, the humour always has an edge of tenderness and warmth... The prayer he writes for Rose might help readers understand why Mystical Rose should be on everybody's reading list... I don't know if God is listening, but Scrimger is. He's a listener, a writer, a tale-teller, a songster, a humourist and a writer whose every book, it seems, will open for readers new ways of seeing and hearing."--The Globe and Mail

"Scrimger's lean, vivid prose sweeps the reader away.... Rose's story unfolds with such delicate measure, such intuitive ease, that it casts a spell the reader will be reluctant to break. The lucid, vivid memories are threaded with fragmented contemporary confusion, as Alzheimer's exerts an ever-greater control... The life of Rose Rolyoke becomes a world unto itself, a world into which the reader is privileged to be invited. Mystical Rose is a book of true beauty and grace, delicately balanced and nuanced."--Quill & Quire

"Scrimger's prose is elegant, understated, well-crafted; he handles the drifting mind of his heroine with a subtle mastery..."--The Toronto Star

"The strength of Mystical Rose comes from its tender evocation of the daily indignities, pathos (and bursts of comedy) of failing health; from its incomplete but still enticing depiction of the strained bond between mother and daughter."--The National Post

"Especially effective is his portrayal of Rose's life on the domestic staff of the Rolyokes, with its old-world, time-in-a-bottle quality... Scrimger's convincing first-person account lends the story immediacy and draws the reader in."--The Hamilton Spectator

"Scrimger [has] a clear eye, and original voice, and tight, punchy Hemingway-esque sentences, as well as a quirky, ironic humour."--The Globe and Mail on Crosstown

-Everyone knows dementia is not funny. Except -- in Scrimger's deft hands, the humour always has an edge of tenderness and warmth... The prayer he writes for Rose might help readers understand why Mystical Rose should be on everybody's reading list... I don't know if God is listening, but Scrimger is. He's a listener, a writer, a tale-teller, a songster, a humourist and a writer whose every book, it seems, will open for readers new ways of seeing and hearing.---The Globe and Mail

-Scrimger's lean, vivid prose sweeps the reader away.... Rose's story unfolds with such delicate measure, such intuitive ease, that it casts a spell the reader will be reluctant to break. The lucid, vivid memories are threaded with fragmented contemporary confusion, as Alzheimer's exerts an ever-greater control... The life of Rose Rolyoke becomes a world unto itself, a world into which the reader is privileged to be invited. Mystical Rose is a book of true beauty and grace, delicately balanced and nuanced.---Quill & Quire

-Scrimger's prose is elegant, understated, well-crafted; he handles the drifting mind of his heroine with a subtle mastery...---The Toronto Star

-The strength of Mystical Rose comes from its tender evocation of the daily indignities, pathos (and bursts of comedy) of failing health; from its incomplete but still enticing depiction of the strained bond between mother and daughter.---The National Post

-Especially effective is his portrayal of Rose's life on the domestic staff of the Rolyokes, with its old-world, time-in-a-bottle quality... Scrimger's convincing first-person account lends the story immediacy and draws the reader in.---The Hamilton Spectator

-Scrimger [has] a clear eye, and original voice, and tight, punchy Hemingway-esque sentences, as well as a quirky, ironic humour.---The Globe and Mail on Crosstown

About the Author:

Richard Scrimger's first novel, Crosstown, was published in the spring of 1996 to widespread critical praise and was shortlisted for the 1997 City of Toronto Book Award. Richard has written two acclaimed children's books, The Nose from Jupiter, which won a Mr. Christie's Book Award, and The Way to Schenectady. His stories about life with his four children have appeared in newspapers and magazines across Canada, and were published in Still Life With Children. Richard Scrimger and his family live in Cobourg, Ontario.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday of Canada
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0385259549
• ISBN 13: 9780385259545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 234