Reviews for The Red Rose girls

The average rating for The Red Rose girls based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-10-06 00:00:00 Melissa Keys When I first learned about the publication of this book, back in 2000, my initial reaction was keen disappointment. I had, to a small degree, researched the lives of early 20th century illustrators Elizabeth Shippen Green and Jessie Wilcox Smith, and was captivated by them. I knew that for many years they shared a home in an idyllic old house on Philadelphia's main line with a third artist, Violet Oakley, and a fourth friend, Harriet Cozzens, who did the gardening and managed the household. I was going to write this book about their art and intertwined lives, but Alice A. Carter beat me to it. She did a very good job of it I have to admit -- and I will also graciously concede that of the two of us, she was ever so slightly the more qualified to take on this project (for several reasons, not least among them that her parents were students of Violet Oakley). The book itself is gorgeously produced, filled with beautiful examples of all the artists' work, redolent with a halcyon glow typical of illustrations from this period. I had imagined that the book would be about the joy of a creative life lived among one's dearest friends in a beautiful setting (kind of like a distillation of the very best parts of college), and to some extent it is, but as Alice A. Carter shows, the actual story was a bit more complicated, and not always happy, but the book is no less interesting for all that. I've now read it a second time, some 21 years after it was published, and still find it excellent. I'd love to see a movie biopic of these artists' lives -- so much scope for visual lushness.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-07-30 00:00:00 Estelle Kastleman A good read for someone interested in Philadelphia history or women with jobs at the turn of the century. I would have liked more about their actual art (method, medium, technique), but their lives were unusual enough that the book was worthwhile even without that. Still, I couldn't help but feel that the story could have been more interesting in the hands of a different author. It wasn't dry, but it also wasn't inspired. I did try to find out what had happened to the Red Rose Inn. It was up for sale with 14 acres in 2004 as Red Rose Farm. Lower Merion Township listed the "Red Rose Farm Complex" at 1300 Mount Pleasant Rd. as a class 2 historical property in 2016, and the Lower Merion Conservancy had a notice in 2017 that they got a 45-acre conservation easement that includes the farm. When I look at 1300 Mount Pleasant Road in Villanova on a map/Zillow, though, I see only newer homes--though there is a Red Rose Lane. I may have to go snooping in person. Cogslea, on the other hand, is alive and well in Chestnut Hill, and even has its own historical marker honoring Violet Oakley.