Cirmson Roses

Even though the writing style is over the top, the plot is pure fantasy, and the story is sentimental and old-fashioned, there's something about this book that makes it a wonderful read from time to time. It has a compelling storyline and, all in all, is a great way to spend a few hours. If you like Cinderella plots, enjoy popular fiction of the early twentieth century, and are a romantic, this book will deliver!

This book was given to me years ago by my grandmother. She loved the story when she was young and gave her copy to my sister and I when we were old enough to enjoy it. Not only did I enjoy it as a high-school teenager, I still go back and re-read this book occasionally. It is a beautiful tale of selflessness and love. I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a romance novel that not only entertains but also inspires the reader to become a better person.

Alone in the city without money, without friends, parents gone after long illness under her nursing care, her home sold over her head by casually-well-meaning but obtuse older brother who expects her to be lifetime unpaid servant - Marion Warren decides this is make-or-break time. She finds department store employment and boarding house quarters and starts her own adult life. Jeff Lyman is behind her in line for season concert tickets - her lone financial splurge - and seeing how much it means to her, arranges to get seating just behind and across isle so he can watch to see if there really is a young lady who cherishes such things. He puts a single crimson rose (of the title) on her seat before each concert and arranges to meet her at church and work, as his effort to get to know her develops into romantic pursuit. On Marion's part, the roses are merely received as counterpoint to bleak and lonely life. But once Jeff convinces her that his intentions are honorable, they are swept along to grand conclusion.

I really liked this book. The plot was predictable, but I very much enjoyed the journey to the happy ending. Marion is an excellent heroine and a great example of Christian love, mercy, and forgiveness.

This is one of my favorite books! A lonely girl, left with a brother and unfriendly sister-in-law when her father dies, decides that she will strike it out on her own in the big city instead of going to the country with them. But who is leaving great, expensive, red, long-stemmed roses on her seat when she sacrifices some of her prescious earnings to buy season tickets to the symphony? And how did the roses get to her when she was sick? Will her wonderful mystery end when the season is over