The Heart Of A Rose

"The Heart of the Rose," written by Mabel McKee and published by Fleming H. Revell in 1913, is a short story about moral purity. The story begins when Beth, a young girl of twelve, is handed her baby brother and told that she will need to be "both a mother and sister to him." The story doesn't give details, but apparently Beth and her brother Floyd were orphans. The story fast-forwards 17 years to when Floyd is about to leave for college. A young friend stop by, and Beth overhears her brother speaking of girls in a course and unseemly manner. Two girls then join the party, and Beth observes the young couples behaving in a loose and familiar manner. The rest of the story tells how Beth managed to deter things from progressing further, and the touching conversation she has with her brother on how he ought to behave towards a girl. Beth tells him the story of an unblemished rose, and in the course of the conversation, finally reaches her brother's heart. The book ends with Floyd quoting from Sir Galahad, "my strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure." The principles in this book, which may be considered strait-laced by many, are nonetheless much-needed by many in our world today. Though short, this charming story of the rose provides another opportunity to reinforce the beauty of moral purity to young men and young ladies alike.

The Heart of a Rose is a collection of 66 poems which tells a story. It reflects on the heart and feelings in relationships. Whether you're in love, a healing process, or single. There are emotions everyone can resonate with in this poetry book.

"Impossible to put down. It haunts me still.” -Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir A riveting, deeply personal exploration of the opioid crisis-an empathic memoir infused with hints of true crime. In November 2013, Rose Andersen's younger sister Sarah died of an overdose in the bathroom of her boyfriend's home in a small town with one of the highest rates of opioid use in the state. Like too many of her generation, she had become addicted to heroin. Sarah was 24 years old. To imagine her way into Sarah's life, Rose revisits their volatile childhood, marked by their stepfather's omnipresent rage and their father's pathological lying. As the dysfunction comes into focus, so does a broader picture of the opioid crisis and the drug rehabilitation industry in small towns across America. And when Rose learns from the coroner that Sarah's cause of death was a methamphetamine overdose, the story takes a wildly unexpected turn. As Andersen sifts through her sister's last days, we come to recognize the contours of grief and its aftermath: the psychic shattering which can turn to anger, the pursuit of an ever-elusive verdict, and the intensely personal rites of imagination and art needed to actually move on. Reminiscent of Alex Marzano-Lesnevich's The Fact of a Body, Maggie Nelson's Jane: A Murder, and Lacy M. Johnson's The Other Side, Andersen's debut is a potent, profoundly original journey into and out of loss.

Bronwyn is a kind and resourceful healer, ahead of her time, who cares for her aging father and two young sisters until her father is murdered by the king’s men and makes all three orphans. She can entrance a man with her singing voice and the kindness in her pretty face, but she's an impoverished peasant who lives in the dark, suspicious times of fifteenth-century England where such a healing woman is feared. Witches are believed to be everywhere, waiting to ensnare a powerful man...like Edward the Fourth of England, who comes across her one day singing in a tavern and makes her his reluctant mistress. But Edward's powerful adversary, The Earl of Warwick, seeks to take over the throne of England and Bronwyn is caught between the two; one she loves, the other she loathes. One cherishes her, the other wants to possess and control her. As political battle lines form, and the country is torn apart by civil upheaval and bloody carnage, the two sides wrestle for the crown. Who will win that war and who will she end up with? When she's condemned to burn as a witch, which man will save her and which will let her die?