Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel was a roller coaster of a novel! It is about Rose Gold Watts, whose mom, Patty, has just spent five years in jail. For the first eighteen years of Rose Gold's life, she believed she was chronically ill - allergic to everything, bound to a wheelchair, and in and out of hospitals. Neighbors held fundraisers, and doctors performed tests and surgeries, but no one could figure out what was wrong. Turns out, Patty was really good at lying...there was nothing wrong with Rose Gold. But her life has been forever impacted by what her mother did. When Patty is released from prison, she begs Rose Gold to take her in, and Rose Gold surprisingly says yes. But Rose Gold is no longer Patty's weak little darling...You'll have to read the novel yourself to see what happens!
Psychological suspense, with a few true-crime vibes, this book pulled me in from the start and was a compulsive read from beginning to end.
Rose Gold's character was, at the same time, someone I pitied and someone who made me cringe. There were so many layers to her, and her childhood trauma completely shaped her and put a lens over her experiences. I loved the way Wrobel wrote her. She also did a fantastic job writing Patty, who is both manipulating and seriously suffering from mental health issues. She was such a menacing character who actually thinks she is right.
So a little bit about the disease Patty suffers from: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MBP). This is a mental health disorder in which a caregiver believes (or makes up) illnesses and injuries in the person for whom they are caring. It is seen as a form of abuse and includes lying about symptoms, changing test results, and even physical harm to produce symptoms. This is usually between a mother and child (like in Darling Rose Gold), but it can happen with any caregiver.
If you haven't read the book and don't want spoilers, stop reading here! I will be going into some details that may give away the ending.
I’ve read a lot of reviews discussing how Wrobel was wrong for punishing Patty in the end. Rose Gold definitely gets her revenge. But I think it’s important to look past the eye for an eye message everyone is hung up on and look at why it works as an ending.
I think the two biggest things Wrobel wanted to get across were:
The inner workings of the mind of someone with Munchausen’s
The cyclical effect and never ending trauma of someone whose only true relationship was with a caregiver who suffered from MBP.
The way society and Rose Gold treat Patty is far from fiction, and this book shows us how Patty truly thinks she is right, which makes hatred from the community even worse. Then, seeing how this abnormal mother-daughter relationship has affected every aspect of Rose Gold’a life and is all she has ever known, it’s not surprising if she also suffers from mental illness or warped views of right and wrong.
Photo Credit: Crime by the Book (See her blog for a Q&A with the author).
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