A rerelease of a previously published book following a substantial revision, The Cherokee Rose is a work of fiction written by a historian at the top of her field. Miles is a professor at Harvard University and the Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study, and if you haven’t read her fantastic works of non-fiction (especially All That She Carried), you’ve been missing out. The Cherokee Rose presents the reader with three women drawn to a former plantation house owned by a chief of the Cherokee Nation in what is now Georgia. Jinx is a Cherokee tribal historian and grad school dropout living in Oklahoma; Ruth is a magazine writer in Minnesota with a troubled past; and Cheyenne is the well-to-do daughter of a prominent Black family in Atlanta who’s hoping to uncover her family’s rumored Cherokee roots.

Likes: This is history that has little coverage in fiction, and the Cherokee Rose beautifully unpicks the complex relationships between white, Black, Cherokee, and mixed-race people during the 19th century and examines the ramifications these have for the present day. There are diary entries from a fictional 19th century character (based on a real person) that convincingly replicate the writing style of the period. The diary has an immediacy and an emotional impact that pulled me in and kept me turning pages, frantic to find out what happened to the 19th century women whose lives it describes. And the introduction and author’s note do a fantastic job of detailing where fact became fiction and providing sources.

Dislikes: While I loved Jinx and Ruth’s characters, I felt Ruth’s backstory veered into melodrama. Cheyenne at times almost felt like a caricature of a spoiled little rich girl. And occasionally, some factual historical information intruded on the story in a way that felt like an info dump. However, I wouldn’t let these critiques prevent me from recommending this book to fans of historical fiction.

FYI: murder, rape, abusive relationships, misogyny, racism, slavery, difficult childbirth.

When I discovered The Cherokee Rose, I was intrigued by the little known history of Native American slaveholding. Unfortunately, while I found the history fascinating, the story has some flaws and the writing is mediocre.

I thought this book sounded really interesting. However it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Parts of it was really good but others not so much.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

The Cherokee Rose
By Tiya Miles

This book has a bit of something for everyone – three female protagonists of color (black, white and Native American); a male romantic interest who is racially mixed; a gay couple; a villain; a murder; and a history lesson.

While all of this is entertaining, the background history is by far the most interesting part of the book. For those of us – like me – who were not aware that some Native Americans were slave owners and trafficked in slaves, this was indeed news. I had been aware that there had been black slave owners in this country right up until the civil war. But this was news about the Cherokee, Creeks, and others. However, it seems that slavery was not, in fact new, to Native Americans, who had treated other conquered tribes as slaves.

When the American government forcibly relocated the tribes from east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma and beyond by means of the horrifying "Trail of Tears", apparently many of the mixed breeds claimed to be black to avoid the relocation. Probably the only time in our history that being black was seen as an advantage!

In our current society, obsessed with the idea of oppressed and oppressors, the historical truths of this book give us a more realistic perspective.

Informative and intriguing novel about a part of US history that hasn't been well explored, Miles has written a novel that often reads more like a history book and if you know that going in, well, it might be more enjoyable. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I wish I'd liked this more,

THE CHEROKEE ROSE is my first Tiya Miles read; her writing is very lush and vivid. I'm not much of a historical fiction reader and the history, which seemed thoroughly researched, was very compelling. I pre-ordered the book because I wanted to spend more time with the history Miles weaves throughout this story.

Ms. Miles ties together the background stories of multiple different characters, Cheyenne, Jinx, and Ruth. And in that background is the real history of Creeks, Cherokees, slaves and their relationships in the early 1800s. While this book is a work of historical fiction, it is clear that Ms. Miles' thorough research shines through. Part of that attention to detail includes the integral role of the Moravian mission established in rural north Georgia. If you love historical fiction as much as I do, you need to get this book ASAP!

The premise of The Cherokee Rose, by Tiya Miles, is quite an interesting one. The author’s inspiration is the historical Chief Vann House site in north Georgia, home of the wealthy James Vann, a very much assimilated leader of the Cherokee in the early part of the 19th century. He was so assimilated with southern antebellum ways that he was a slaveholder, using the worst aspects of the southern economy to benefit his interests. We did a family outing to this site thirty years ago and at that time I was moved by the story of this family, who despite being assimilated to the “white man’s ways”, was forced to march on the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. The fact that he was a slaveholder did not register with then. Miles has fictionalized the story, changing names and proposing one theory of how he died mysteriously. It’s a good read, with many touchstones to bring readers of modern fiction on board, including the present-day story of those fighting over how the site will continue. Miles never claims that this is literary fiction, which it doesn’t quite make, but it certainly has more depth than many of the books with which hers might compete.

I tend to review literary fiction pieces, so my three stars might well be five stars for another reader. What didn’t work for me was the way there were so many of the touchstones to bring in different audiences. Some of these are stereotypes, and even if the stereotypes are later filled out, I found it off-putting. Also, there was too much suspension of belief in order to make the plot work for me. However, I have no problems with the ghost, whose appearances were shown with an appropriate wispiness. I especially enjoyed the epistolary parts that were based on actual history. Miles goal was to make this story approachable for those who enjoy lighter fiction, and this she did very well.

This novel, although fictional, open up a door of lesser known American history. Given the fact that the novel centers around a wealthy land owner of a plantation in the South that was Cherokee and mixed into this was the fact that he owned black slaves. Three women converging on this plantation, each of them with family histories relating to this plantation sets the story and the journey going forward. A little known fact (at least for me) in our history told by this author, that was hard-hitting and no fairy tale. This book leaves you with the injustice of it all...it gives you pause to think not only about the past, but everything that has led to where we are today.

A solid read with a slow storyline. I enjoyed it but found it dragged mid way. The characters were one dimensional and I didn’t connect with them. It was an ok read. I enjoyed the historical aspects.

****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Not since Lalita Tademy's Cane River have I read a historical novel that is so thoroughly researched and so beautifully written. Cherokee Rose is based on the author's (tremendous) research of the Vann House in Northwest Georgia.

In the story, a former Cherokee plantation turned museum known as Hold House is being sold due to a lack of funds. The sale of the former home of a Cherokee Chieftain (with white and Cherokee blood) brings forth the interest of many locals who share a past with the old mansion. Three women come to the old mansion for different reasons. Cheyenne, who claims to have a Native American ancestor that once lived at the house, plans to buy Hold House and convert it into a bed and breakfast. Jinx is a young Muscogee historian sent by her tribe to find out what happened to a tribal member that had lived on the plantation but did not take the Trail of Tears north. Ruth, a writer for a home magazine up north is here on assignment. She and Cheyenne share a past. Add the ghost of a young Muscogee woman and a mysterious diary, and you get a story you can't put down.

This story covers a little-known but very important part of Native American and Southern history. Before the white man came here and removed the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, Northwest Georgia was owned and farmed by the Cherokee. What many people don't know is that there were Cherokee who owned slaves. Although I grew up here on what was Cherokee land, and I have heard stories of the old plantations that were here, I was never taught much about my own local history while in school. This is why I am so glad to see this book! When history covers the South, it mostly concentrates on the white-owned plantations of southern Georgia. Students are not taught the history of the northern part of the state, which is very different. The story delves into the history of the plantation, the three races that came together there, and how their fates were intertwined.

I highly recommend this book to any lover of historical fiction or history buff. Miles' writing style makes the read enjoyable. Her characters are very well-rounded and believable. This one is a keeper.

The premise to this novel sounded right up my alley, but unfortunately the formatting of the novel was off and I couldn't read it.

this novel was incredibly well researched. that being said, it reads more like a history textbook than a historical fiction novel. i felt the indigenous character was very flat and one dimensional. while this makes for an interesting read, and i appreciated that the author updated her original text, i did not feel any emotion from the characters. it was all pretty factual.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Okay. This wasn't for me. I was eager to read this thinking I would find so many new views of this culture that I hadn't read before. I'm glad others enjoyed this book and I'm sure many others will also enjoy this. I simply was not a fan.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc for an unbiased review.

Synopsis:
When one of her regular readers takes issue with her weekly history column, Jinx Micco, a free-spirited Muscogee (Creek) tribal historian, can’t get the criticism out of her head. Soon she finds herself on the road from Oklahoma to the Hold House, a nineteenth-century plantation home in Georgia originally owned by the Cherokee Chief James Hold, to track down the long-forgotten mystery of what happened to a tribal member who stayed behind after the United States instituted a policy of Indian Removal.

There, she meets Ruth, visiting the plantation on a magazine assignment, and Cheyenne, a Southern Black debutante seeking to connect with her family's history by purchasing the whole estate. Hovering above them all is the spirit of the long-gone Mary Ann Battis, a young woman suspected of burning a mission to the ground and then disappearing from tribal records. As Jinx and Ruth are drawn closer together, they challenge Cheyenne to look more deeply at the home she has purchased, and when they discover a diary left on the property by a Moravian missionary that reveals the house’s dark history, the three women’s personal connections and resonances with the place grow deeper. Cheyenne is forced to reconsider whether she is the only rightful owner of the property, Jinx reexamines her assumptions about her tribe’s racial history after learning Mary Ann’s story, and the pain of the past leads Ruth to confront her own family’s traumas and then surprise herself by falling into a new romance.

Imbued with a deeply nuanced understanding of the intertwined histories of Indigenous and African Americans and an underappreciated aspect of Southern history, The Cherokee Rose brings the past beautifully to life as Jinx, Ruth, and Cheyenne discover truths and unravel mysteries with powerful consequences for them all.

I received this book via ARC (thanks Goodreads) and I understand that this is a reissue of this book. If true, I understand why this book is reissued now. It is difficult to read at times and definitely timely. A recommended read.

I loved everything about this one.
I have had many emotions run through me while reading this novel.
I think the mention of Trail of Tears is a very sad thing. It made me have a trail of emotions. I hated that these Indians were treated unfairly. They're human too.
I know that authors do research for their book and I did look up some of the things mentioned here and I found most of it interesting.
This author has done a marvelous job in capturing the characters and places that intrigued my imagination.
I loved " visualizing' the places that were described in this book. It's like I was "seeing" the land as these people might have.
5 stars for a well written book. I highly recommend it
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Originally published in 2015, this book is a rich blend of multicultural backgrounds.
The author has conducted a tremendous amount of research and presented readers with a great story that transcends time and sensitivity.
I liked the diary excerpts the best. I thought Miles blended the three angles very well.
What I really enjoyed was the author’s afterward. She delivers a trove of information and resources that will direct anyone who wishes to read further on these topics.

This book is an iteration of one published a decade ago. The concept is derived from the history of the “Five Civilized Tribes” that had adopted north American culture as it was expressed through religion, government, and business practices, including slavery. Cherokee Chief James Hold is the embodiment of those who adopted these practices. He is portrayed as an unscrupulous, devil-may-care entrepreneur who is monstrously ruthless to the women he holds as property and to his second wife. Miles describes him as “half Indian, but in his dress and color and conduct was quite like a white man.”

Modern day Cheyenne Cotterell is a leading character who is described as a bossy, narcissistic Black American Princess. She is slim and beautiful with shiny, straight hair that is regularly spotlighted as is her fashion. Although her ancestry is not yet verified, Cheyenne believes her hair is one piece of evidence that she has a Native American heritage, and she purchases the Hold Plantation to save her family history. The author states that her own family lore includes Native American ancestry, and that this possibility is a longing of other African Americans. This longing is a “significant tension” in the novel, she says. Cheyenne is joined by two other women who arrive at the plantation for other reasons, but forces will drive them to find greater answers about the plantation’s past and that of the enslaved persons who lived there.

For the most part, it appears that Miles has resolved reviewer complaints about lack of character development in the original book. Indeed, while Cheyenne is intentionally unlikable, the three female characters seem to be well developed with complex needs and drives. Each will evolve as the story progresses and contribute in a meaningful way to the plot. There are a few exceptions. John Gamble’s reversal, so to speak, feels contrived; the vital Samuel Cotterell is but a wisp of a presence; and the Battis/Cotterell relationship lacks sufficient underpinning.

While the historical aspects of this story are well researched, the fictional crafting could use a second look. There are various factual issues and some odd choices, like the juvenile gaslighting pranks that did not align with Mason Allen’s character profile. The overdose of gestures and imagery cues are distracting and reminiscent of a novice writer, which is not easily reconciled with Miles’s polished introduction and the cleaner, more streamlined diary entries. The close association of the historical diary entries to Miles’s wheelhouse might explain their concision, while the imagined world of the twenty-first century “tableau of Black urban chic” begs creative fiction skills. It is disappointing to have to provide this feedback as the same complaints have been available for many years. Perhaps these concerns will be resolved prior to printing, as it is clear that Miles cares deeply about this subject.

Many thanks to Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

I was anxious to read this book as I had read her previous book All That She Carried and loved it. This book is partially based on the Trail of Tears, the relocation of Native Americans from their homes in several southern states to Oklahoma. Exploring the history of slaveholding by Native Americans,(a fact that most people do not know about), the novel introduces the reader to strong women both in the past and the present. In the present, three women from different backgrounds come together to an old Georgia plantation. What they discover from the past history of the house ( including the plight of a black slave woman) will bring them together in ways they could never had imagined. A highly recommendable read.