Root, Petal, Thorn

Root, Petal, Thorn  by Ella Joy Olsen  294 pages

In the “About the Author” notes, Ella Joy Olsen lives in a hundred-year-old bungalow with her family in Salt Lake City. I imagine that her home was the inspiration for this sweeping saga of the five women who have called cottage on Downington Avenue home since it was built in 1913.

The book opens in current time. Ivy Baygreen is reeling from the sudden death of her husband, Adam. She is trying to get back to normal for her two kids, but her grief is too heavy. Her doctor brother, Stephen, encourages her and tries to help with the kids, but Ivy is almost prostrate. Stephen helps her create a list to get her moving. One of the items, “Get your house in order.” She and Adam were always remodeling their home, and she needs to get on with the projects, or at least clean up the mess.

One of the things she has to do is crawl into the attic and determine if Mama Raccoon is back with her babies. As she is investigating, she discovers a wooden box.  Taking it downstairs, she discovers an incomplete embroidery piece. It is a marriage sampler for Emmeline and Nathaniel. Wait, she remembers, the rosebush is named the Emmeline. Could this have something to do with her? Her yard is home to an heirloom rose bush called the Emmeline Rose. Ivy loves the snowy white blossoms. It was one of the first things she fell in love with at the house.

And so propels Ivy into examining her home more carefully She uncovers clues about the previous inhabitants which propels her into doing some research into the families who have lived there before her.

Sisters Emmeline and Cora and their parents were the home’s original occupants in 1913. Next is Bitsy Robinson, a child of the Great Depression whose mother has died. Eris Gianopolous is a Greek immigrant. Her sections take place in 1944. She is sick and tired of the war raging around the world, sick and tired of worrying about her soon-to-be eighteen-year-old son who want to join the fight, and especially sick and tired of her Victory Garden. Lainey Harper moves in in 1968. Her sections are about her struggle with manic-depression and her efforts to retain custody of her daughter, Sylvie.

I LOVED this story. It weaved back and forth between the women, never in any particular order. It’s a saga of moving on when it seems you can’t even get out bed.  Olsen could have easily made a five-novel series from these stories. I sort of wish she had. I missed the each character as the sections changed, and I was sad when I reached the end.  Can’t wait to read more from this debut novelist.

I give Root, Petal, Thorn, 5 out of 5 stars.