Darling Rose Gold (Wrobel)

Darling Rose Gold  
Stephanie Wrobel, 2019
Penguin Publishing
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780593100066 


Summary
Mothers never forget. Daughters never forgive.
 
For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital.

Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.

Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.

After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.

Patty insists all she wants is to reconcile their differences. She says she's forgiven Rose Gold for turning her in and testifying against her. But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty Watts always settles a score.

Unfortunately for Patty, Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling…

And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Stephanie Wrobel grew up in Chicago but has been living in the UK for the last three years with her husband and dog, Moose Barkwinkle. She has an MFA from Emerson College and has had short fiction published in Bellevue Literary Review. Before turning to fiction, she worked as a creative copywriter at various advertising agencies. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Sure to be one of the most unique books of the new year.
Newsweek


Ingenious…  a maelstrom of a suspense story.
Maureen Corrigan - Washington Post


[An] excellent debut… briskly moves with surprising twists [and] assured character studies.
Associated Press


Propulsive pacing, a claustrophobic setting, and vividly sketched characters who are equal parts victim and villain conspire to create an anxious, unsettling narrative. Psychological suspense fans will be well satisfied.
Publishers Weekly


It's chilling enough to read about Rose Gold's suffering, but it's just as chilling—and at times uncomfortably satisfying…. Definitely for the thriller crowd, but readers interested in fraught family relationships will want to investigate as well.
Library Journal


Wrobel builds tension by tearing down and knocking away everything the audience believes they know…. This thriller speeds toward its conclusion in true page-turner fashion, without feeling rushed. A taut tale that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Who is the victim? Who is the perpetrator? What does it mean to be a victim in the context of this story?

2. Who did you most empathize with throughout the book? Did your sympathies change chapter to chapter? If so, how?

3. Patty’s actions are attributed to Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental health disorder. Should she have gone to prison if her behavior was caused by an illness beyond her control?

4. Do Patty and Rose Gold love each other? How did your view of their relationship change throughout the book?

5. Toward the end of the book, Rose Gold says, "Nobody wants to hear the truth from a liar." Did you trust either of the narrators? At what points, if any, was that trust shaken?

6. What did you think of Rose Gold’s final decision not to fix her teeth? To shave her head? How do societal beauty standards affect Rose Gold throughout the book?

7. How much of our personalities are shaped by nature vs. nurture? Do you think Rose Gold and Patty would have committed their crimes had their childhoods been different?

8. "Some of us cannot forget and will never forgive." Do you think Rose Gold will ever be free of her mother’s influence? Were Rose Gold’s actions justifiable? What do you imagine her future will hold?

9. What role did the residents of Deadwick play in the story? What characters had the biggest impact on Patty and/or Rose Gold? Why do you think Patty was able to keep her actions hidden for so long?

10. Does Patty know she’s lying or has she convinced herself she’s telling the truth? What makes you think so?
(Questions issued by the publishers.)

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