Roses by Leila Meacham

Ok, I was entranced by the cover. Isn't it beautiful? Then when I saw it's comparisons to Gone With The Wind (one of my favorite books ever), I knew I had to read Roses.
It was one of those sweeping sagas about families in a small town in Texas. The Tolivers, The DuMonts and the Warwicks built Howbutker. The Tolivers plant cotton, the DuMonts own department stores and the Warwicks are lumbermen. And they are all mixed up in each other's business. Each person bring something to the story. There are two large sections devoted to Mary Toliver and Percy Warwick stories but Amos (the lawyer), Lucy (Percy's wife), Rachel (Mary's great-niece) and Ollie (Mary's husband) all contribute to the story. There is love and loss, devotion to family and heritage and discovering one's self. The story covers 70 some odd years so there's a lot to tell. It's not a linear story. We start at the end, go back to the beginning, get to the middle, skip to the end, go back to the beginning. Honestly that made me not want to continue reading it. But I got hooked halfway through Mary's story and couldn't put the book down. It was easy to get lost in their story. There's so much pain, loss and betrayal that it makes it hard not to feel for everyone involved. I kept reading cause I was looking for that happy ending and while it didn't come for all the characters, there was a nice one at the end.
I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction. It spans from World War I to the 1980's. There's plenty of description of the changes the characters see (automobiles, changes in clothing, Prohibition). Others who shared their thoughts on Roses: From L.A. to LA, Serendipitous Readings, Tell Me A Story, Royal Reviews, and The Lost Entwife.