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Secret Rose
Secret Rose is a unique double-book edition bringing together WB Yeats’s short stories THE SECRET ROSE and Orna Ross’s novel HER SECRET ROSE, the true stories behind the stories.
HER SECRET ROSE (2015) by Orna Ross
The Irish Nobel-Laureate poet Willie Yeats was 23 years old in 1889, when Maud Gonne arrived from Paris to call to his house in West London and, as he later put it, “the troubling of his life” began. Six feet tall, elegantly beautiful and passionately political, this British heiress turned Irish revolutionary was the muse the young poet had been seeking. He would spread his dreams under her feet, as together they set about creating a new Ireland, through his poetry and her politics.
Yeats forged a poetic career from his unrequited love for Gonne and her proud and passionate “pilgrim soul”. But as the narrator of the story says, “when looked at from the other side of the bedsheets, most tales take a turning… and this one’s no different.” Their personal and political passion was fired by a shared interest in mind-altering substances and experiences, including hashish and mescalin, occult magic rituals and nationalistic fervour. The true story of what happened between these larger-than-life characters is more complex, and altogether more intriguing, than Yeats’s poetic myth.
THE SECRET ROSE (1897) by WB Yeats
WB Yeats was a magician as well as a writer, a member of the secret occult society, The Golden Dawn. The 17 talismanic stories in his mystical book, The Secret Rose, revolve around men who must spend themselves in service to that rose, an occult symbol representing the ideal, the absolute, the self beyond self. When Yeats originally published these stories, his publisher refused to include two final stories that are here restored, to create the volume that the author originally intended - alongside the story of the passionate relationship that fired his vision and shaped his fictions.
Together, the two books in this twin-volume - a tribute edition by Orna Ross in celebration of Yeats’s 150th birth anniversary - offer a unique combination of secrets and intrigue, passion and politics, mystery and magic.
HER SECRET ROSE (2015) by Orna Ross
The Irish Nobel-Laureate poet Willie Yeats was 23 years old in 1889, when Maud Gonne arrived from Paris to call to his house in West London and, as he later put it, “the troubling of his life” began. Six feet tall, elegantly beautiful and passionately political, this British heiress turned Irish revolutionary was the muse the young poet had been seeking. He would spread his dreams under her feet, as together they set about creating a new Ireland, through his poetry and her politics.
Yeats forged a poetic career from his unrequited love for Gonne and her proud and passionate “pilgrim soul”. But as the narrator of the story says, “when looked at from the other side of the bedsheets, most tales take a turning… and this one’s no different.” Their personal and political passion was fired by a shared interest in mind-altering substances and experiences, including hashish and mescalin, occult magic rituals and nationalistic fervour. The true story of what happened between these larger-than-life characters is more complex, and altogether more intriguing, than Yeats’s poetic myth.
THE SECRET ROSE (1897) by WB Yeats
WB Yeats was a magician as well as a writer, a member of the secret occult society, The Golden Dawn. The 17 talismanic stories in his mystical book, The Secret Rose, revolve around men who must spend themselves in service to that rose, an occult symbol representing the ideal, the absolute, the self beyond self. When Yeats originally published these stories, his publisher refused to include two final stories that are here restored, to create the volume that the author originally intended - alongside the story of the passionate relationship that fired his vision and shaped his fictions.
Together, the two books in this twin-volume - a tribute edition by Orna Ross in celebration of Yeats’s 150th birth anniversary - offer a unique combination of secrets and intrigue, passion and politics, mystery and magic.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
ebook
First published August 3, 2015
25 people want to read
About the author
Orna Ross
57 books245 followersOrna Ross is an award-winning historical novelist, poet, and founder-director of the global non-profit for self-publishing writers, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).
An international bestseller, she enjoys book sales in 120+ countries worldwide and her awards include the Goethe Historical Fiction Grand Prize Award for fiction, Gold Literary Titan award for poetry, the Romantic Novelists Association's Indie Champion Award, The Writers' Digest's Top Websites for Writers, and The Bookseller's Top 100 people in publishing.
In what she describes as “the best move of my writing life”, Orna took her book rights back from her publishers in 2011. The experience has made her a passionate advocate for the commercial and creative empowerment of authors through self-publishing and selective rights licensing.
An international bestseller, she enjoys book sales in 120+ countries worldwide and her awards include the Goethe Historical Fiction Grand Prize Award for fiction, Gold Literary Titan award for poetry, the Romantic Novelists Association's Indie Champion Award, The Writers' Digest's Top Websites for Writers, and The Bookseller's Top 100 people in publishing.
In what she describes as “the best move of my writing life”, Orna took her book rights back from her publishers in 2011. The experience has made her a passionate advocate for the commercial and creative empowerment of authors through self-publishing and selective rights licensing.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 25, 2015
This is a beautifully produced heirloom book that would make a great gift for anyone interested in Yeats, Irish poetry or gorgeous books in general.
I didn't know much about Yeats' private life, but I do now, thanks to this fascinating and well-crafted fictionalised biography - and what a life it was! Full of intrigue, mysticism, drugs, politics, and a tantalising unfulfilled romance with convention-defying feminist Maud Gonne. The story is told in Orna Ross's distinctive lyrical Irish prose, adding to the pleasure of reading. Yeats' poetry is often quoted, and his collection of short stories is included too, so this is a bumper, multi-faceted book to treasure.
I didn't know much about Yeats' private life, but I do now, thanks to this fascinating and well-crafted fictionalised biography - and what a life it was! Full of intrigue, mysticism, drugs, politics, and a tantalising unfulfilled romance with convention-defying feminist Maud Gonne. The story is told in Orna Ross's distinctive lyrical Irish prose, adding to the pleasure of reading. Yeats' poetry is often quoted, and his collection of short stories is included too, so this is a bumper, multi-faceted book to treasure.
September 18, 2015
Fascinating look at the history behind some of Ireland's greatest poetry. The story of WB Yeats and Maud Gonne, a look at the real people behind the myth. I'm looking forward to the next in this series.
September 25, 2015
I first heard of Maud Gonne in 1960 when I was 17. She seemed like someone from the far past and I’m astonished now to realise that at that time she had been dead for only seven years. The introduction came from Charlie Richardson, one of my A level English teachers, who told the class that she was the muse of WB Yeats with whose poetry I had just fallen in love (an infatuation that continues to this day). He also told us that: she had refused several marriage proposals from Yeats; that he had also been turned down by her daughter Iseult; and that we should all be grateful to Maud and her daughter because without this unrequited love Yeats’s poetry would never have reached the heights it did. He did not tell us: that Maud married a right-wing French politician; that the son she bore him died; that she then made her husband (from whom she had been estranged since the death of the child) make love to her by candlelight on a freezing cold night in the funeral vault where their son lay buried; or that most of us, on meeting her, would have decided that she was as mad as a hatter. In Her Secret Rose, Orna Ross fills in these gaps to great effect.
The title of the book comes from Yeats’s collection of short stories, The Secret Rose, which in this edition is bound with Ross’s story. What I admire about Ross’s work (I have previously given a good review to her novel Blue Mercy) is her ability to put you into the minds of her characters so that you feel as well as see – you have the why as well as the what – and to structure a book in the best way to bring out what she wants to say. In this case, we watch proceedings through the eyes of a female Irish domestic servant who sees people (and especially Gonne, Yeats and the French politician, Millevoye) with a clarity and at the same time a lack of judgmental bias possibly not available to people of her own class.
At the end of the book, did I feel any deeper understanding of Yeats’s poetry? No, probably not. But I had had an exhilarating read. An excellent book by a writer of the first rank. I recommend it strongly.
The title of the book comes from Yeats’s collection of short stories, The Secret Rose, which in this edition is bound with Ross’s story. What I admire about Ross’s work (I have previously given a good review to her novel Blue Mercy) is her ability to put you into the minds of her characters so that you feel as well as see – you have the why as well as the what – and to structure a book in the best way to bring out what she wants to say. In this case, we watch proceedings through the eyes of a female Irish domestic servant who sees people (and especially Gonne, Yeats and the French politician, Millevoye) with a clarity and at the same time a lack of judgmental bias possibly not available to people of her own class.
At the end of the book, did I feel any deeper understanding of Yeats’s poetry? No, probably not. But I had had an exhilarating read. An excellent book by a writer of the first rank. I recommend it strongly.
August 26, 2016
Before talking about this book, i must admit that before reading it the only thing i knew about WB Yeats was that he was a famous Irish poet and i never read any of his poems. The thing is that i requested this book from NetGalley out of curiosity, i believe that the story behind the poems must be fascinating, what made any poet write those specific words.
Let's just say that i embarked in this journey completely ignorant of what to expect. And i find it was quite interesting!
So, this book was about WB Yeats and Maud Gonne and there fascinating relationship during the last years of the 19th Century.
The first thing that surprised me was to discover that the book was not a kind of Yeats's biography. The author consigned a big part of it to the life of Maud Gonne.
Gonne and Yeats were very different in all aspects, the only thing they had in common was there love for Ireland and their fight for its freedom, her, through her most controversial political works, him through his poetry and the revival of Celtic mythology.
Now, that was another part i absolutely loved, the way the author inserted some Celtic myths, stories, folklore, they were amazing and i would certainly read more of them. It was also interesting, how she inserted some of the poems of Yeats. The context made it easier for me to understand those verses. It was really an interesting experience.
The story was really good, but sometimes both their characters were tiresome, and at moments i felt detached from the story.
Let's just say that i embarked in this journey completely ignorant of what to expect. And i find it was quite interesting!
So, this book was about WB Yeats and Maud Gonne and there fascinating relationship during the last years of the 19th Century.
The first thing that surprised me was to discover that the book was not a kind of Yeats's biography. The author consigned a big part of it to the life of Maud Gonne.
Gonne and Yeats were very different in all aspects, the only thing they had in common was there love for Ireland and their fight for its freedom, her, through her most controversial political works, him through his poetry and the revival of Celtic mythology.
Now, that was another part i absolutely loved, the way the author inserted some Celtic myths, stories, folklore, they were amazing and i would certainly read more of them. It was also interesting, how she inserted some of the poems of Yeats. The context made it easier for me to understand those verses. It was really an interesting experience.
The story was really good, but sometimes both their characters were tiresome, and at moments i felt detached from the story.
July 20, 2019
As a wonderful collector’s edition, a book that should be read slowly and digested to enjoy the seamless, compelling narration that gently draws the reader into the world of Maude Gonne and WB. The lyricism of the craft added to the enjoyable intimacy of WB’s fictionalized biography. The reader leaves with the satisfaction of having walked with two unforgettable, intriguing lives. I will certainly re-read this special tribute to WB—‘That it declare itself a book to be read, and placed upon one’s shelves, and read again.’
April 17, 2016
Inspired by the historical resources of private letters, journals, communications and published works, Orna Ross has created a fictional account of the relationship between W.B. Yeats and his muse of many years, Maud Gonne, of whom his imagination has placed her on a pedestal.
A weaving of their respective points of view allow us to glimpse into both sides of this extraordinary relationship; their passion for Ireland, for literature, for ancient myth and legend, and also their obsessions with the occult. As the lives of both characters continue to fascinate us, this fictional work gives us the opportunity to reimagine their relationship in a three-dimensional realm. Particularly, in the case of Maud Gonne, to see her, not just as an object of study for literary analysis or historical rhetoric – the six-foot beauty, the scandalous femme fatale – but also to know her, to feel her passion, her fears, her mistakes and her longings, which, worlds apart from the great poet’s, are just as powerful and desirous as his own unrequited love!
The new Speranza – as Yeats once described her, and liberated by her money, Maud’s fierce feminism, her political fervour, her fear of being oppressed by the norms of her societal era, and her fear of marriage opposing her innate desire for motherhood and nurturing, are explored. The plight of prisoners reminds her of the plight of women. To be a good woman is to be complicit in one’s own oppression. Good prisoners get overlooked and written out of the record and are kept in place by silence…for this reader, Maud Gonne excels as the stronger protagonist of this compelling literary coupling that in effect, never was!
Interspersed with the poetic works of Yeats, the story is also carried by a third-party narrative, the voice of Rose, the fictional witness, appearing intermittently to entwine the featured characters’ perspectives. I’m not sure that this element was necessary – I would have been just as happy to dive straight in to the weaving of these fascinating lives without the intrusion of this other voice. Their stories are strong enough to carry the novel to its conclusion on their own.
This review also appears in The Librarian's Cellar: https://carolinefarrellwriter.com/201...
A weaving of their respective points of view allow us to glimpse into both sides of this extraordinary relationship; their passion for Ireland, for literature, for ancient myth and legend, and also their obsessions with the occult. As the lives of both characters continue to fascinate us, this fictional work gives us the opportunity to reimagine their relationship in a three-dimensional realm. Particularly, in the case of Maud Gonne, to see her, not just as an object of study for literary analysis or historical rhetoric – the six-foot beauty, the scandalous femme fatale – but also to know her, to feel her passion, her fears, her mistakes and her longings, which, worlds apart from the great poet’s, are just as powerful and desirous as his own unrequited love!
The new Speranza – as Yeats once described her, and liberated by her money, Maud’s fierce feminism, her political fervour, her fear of being oppressed by the norms of her societal era, and her fear of marriage opposing her innate desire for motherhood and nurturing, are explored. The plight of prisoners reminds her of the plight of women. To be a good woman is to be complicit in one’s own oppression. Good prisoners get overlooked and written out of the record and are kept in place by silence…for this reader, Maud Gonne excels as the stronger protagonist of this compelling literary coupling that in effect, never was!
Interspersed with the poetic works of Yeats, the story is also carried by a third-party narrative, the voice of Rose, the fictional witness, appearing intermittently to entwine the featured characters’ perspectives. I’m not sure that this element was necessary – I would have been just as happy to dive straight in to the weaving of these fascinating lives without the intrusion of this other voice. Their stories are strong enough to carry the novel to its conclusion on their own.
This review also appears in The Librarian's Cellar: https://carolinefarrellwriter.com/201...
March 17, 2016
Secret Rose is a beautifully written tale of historical fiction, which tells the story of the tangled romance between the Nobel Prize winning poet WB Yeats and his muse, political activist Maud Gonne. I bought the limited edition hardback as a present for my significant other, a Yeats fan, but couldn't wait to read it myself. It is a bold and courageous act to package a story with the original writings of Ireland's most significant poet. But Orna Ross pulls off this remarkable feat with aplomb.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews