The Recovery of Rose Gold

Years ago, I read a true story called Sickened about a young girl who was made to believe she was sick for years. It turned out that her mother had Munchausen’s by proxy. This condition has fascinated me ever since, so when I read that The Recovery of Rose Gold was about Munchausen’s, I couldn’t wait to read it. I loved that at the end of this book it mentions that some of the authors’ inspiration came from that very book I’d read – Sickened!

Rose Gold has now been added to my list of all-time favourite characters, she isn’t one I’ll ever forget that’s for sure. Rejected by so many people in her life and controlled and hurt by the one person she loved and relied on; I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor girl. For eighteen whole years, Rose Gold had been poisoned by her mother, thinking she had so many ailments and allergies when she had none!

We follow Rose Gold over the period of time that her mum, Patty, is in prison and the first few months after she’s released. Deciding to let bygones be bygones Rose Gold allows her mother to move in with her but has Patty changed her ways at all? I’m not sure she ever realised the seriousness of her actions, but surely five years in prison will have made her see sense. The chapters alternate between Rose Gold and Patty, allowing us inside the mind of both the harmer and the victim.

This book was really easy to read, I was so keen to find out where it was going that I hated putting it down and couldn’t wait to pick it back up. Some of the things Rose Gold did and said showed her desperation to just be liked and accepted, it made me sad for her but then she would have some kind of evil thought and I would smile, loving the fact she had a bit of a psychotic side to her! My only slight disappointment was that she didn’t act out all her thoughts, I really think this character had the potential to go further with some stuff. That said there were still some fantastic twists and I bloody loved the ending!!

I read this as a buddy read with the lovely Wendy Clarke. This is the first buddy read I have ever done, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is so nice to be able to chat to someone else about the story whilst you’re reading it and once you’ve finished.

A disturbing yet captivating read, one that I highly recommend!

It was hard to care for the characters and the plot was really thin. The writing itself is good but it was a very predictable tale.

Brilliantly written to tease between the alternating chapters. Great book.