-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
One hundred fifty years of Roses - Tolivers, Warwicks, and DuMonts! We begin in the antebellum South on Plantation Alley in South Carolina, where Silas Toliver, deprived of his inheritance, joins up with his best friend Jeremy Warwick to plan a wagon train expedition to the "black waxy" promise of a new territory called Texas. Slavery, westward expansion, abolition, the Civil War, love, marriage, friendship, tragedy and triumph - all the ingredients (and much more) that made so many love Roses so much - are here in abundance.
"Starred Review. Rich with American history and pitch-perfect storytelling, fans and new readers alike will find themselves absorbed in the family saga that Meacham has proven—once again—talented in telling." - Publishers Weekly
"Meacham's fans - and she has many - will be glad for this prequel." - Kirkus
"Like many multigenerational sagas, Somerset aims for breadth, not depth, and loses a bit of steam as its original characters, whom Meacham develops with great care, cede the stage to a succession of offspring lacking similar spark. To the author's credit, Jessica is a tough act to follow." - Booklist
"Readers who made Roses a best seller will jump at the chance to read this sprawling epic. Meacham succeeds in bringing early Texas to life in a character-driven novel, and fans of historical fiction and family sagas will appreciate her strong characters and vividly depicted historical setting." - Library Journal
This information about Somerset was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Marie Mangmore/Langmore Photography
Leila Meacham lived in San Antonio, Texas. She was the author of a number of bestselling novels including Roses, Somerset and Tumbleweeds. She died in September 2021.
Name Pronunciation
Leila Meacham: me-chuhm
If you liked Somerset, try these:
Joy Is the Justice We Give Ourselves
by J Drew. Lanham
Published 2024
From J. Drew Lanham, MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient and author of Sparrow Envy: A Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, comes a sensuous new collection in his signature mix of poetry and prose.
by Nathan Harris
Published 2022
A profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.
by Tiya Miles
Published 2022
A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft an extraordinary testament to people who are left out of the archives.
It is a fact of life that any discourse...will always please if it is five minutes shorter than people expect
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
