The Cherokee Rose

The Cherokee Rose — A Novel of Gardens and Ghosts
by Tiya Miles
Published by Random House in 2023
-a personal and family photo of Unega Woya

This book is a beautifully crafted work of fiction with historical context woven into the structure. It’s like the plot contains some points of history and the fictional story points the reader to discover the history. The author, Tiya Miles, adds sections to the book to help explain what’s fact and what’s fiction.

A couple of years ago I went on a bit of a genealogical rabbit trail. Our family has been in possession of a photo of my great-great-great grandmother ~ White Dove ~ Unega Woya ~ Mary Ann ~ Cherokee probably since I was a teenager. For some reason, I never paid much attention to the dates on the backside until the summer of 2021. As I began to do the math of the dates and reading, researching, pondering, and considering their meaning and implications — a whole new understanding and curiosity began to emerge in me. So when a new book by one of my favorite authors came forth last year exploring similar threads to my recent rabbit trail, I knew I wanted to read this work—even though it is primarily fiction.

Tiya Miles uses historical facts and details about the land, plants, and cultural ways to help develop the reader’s understanding of the intricacies and complexities of living as Cherokee, Black, White, and Women in the North Carolina/Georgia areas of the the United States in the early 1800’s. This is what appealed to me most about this book.

I also appreciated how she incorporated how the trauma from 200+ years ago still travels through generations and continues to be found in the bodies we live in today.

Tiya Miles is an historian - foremost - and she crafts this story with care, beauty, dignity, and hope. Thank you Tiya for this work!