Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2014
624 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
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
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