Julia Kelly is known for her historical fiction that bring to life important events in history and the women who not only live through them, but endure them and emerge stronger. In this new novel, “The Queen of Roses,” Kelly takes us from the debutantes and season in London to turn-of-the-century Pasadena, and to Pasadena in the 1960s.

Kelly uses a dual time line in which we first meet Theresa Johnson, an aspiring journalist who works for one of the Pasadena newspapers writing obituaries. She wants to move up, but it’s 1960, and women still can’t get a credit card in their name or take out a mortgage, so she knows it’s a steep climb to get where she wants to be. When someone calls about an error in one of the obits she wrote, Theresa goes to meet with Miss Pearce and straighten out the mistake.

What she doesn’t expect is that her trip up the mountain to Rosewood House in Altadena, where Miss Pearce resides, will change her life. The older Miss Pearce is a far different woman than the younger one we meet who, almost 60 years earlier, is preparing to disembark from the train that is the last step in her journey from London, across the Atlantic, and across the country into a different life. She traveled by train in the company of Mrs. Gorman and her eighteen-year-old daughter, because it would not be proper for Adele to travel alone. It’s 1903, and Adele is trading the life she knew in London, being presented to the queen, attending balls and parties as part of the London season, and living with her aunt and beloved cousin Margot, for an uncertain life in California, in a town called Pasadena where her parents has moved.

Adele thought the reason her parents moved from England was for her father’s health, but as she comes to learn, that’s not necessarily the case. Pasadena was known for being a place wealthy Easterners could flee the bitter cold winter to spend those months enjoying the warm weather and constant sunshine. The Pasadena society “season” is about to begin, but Adele looks down her patrician nose at the undertakings and at the men who are certainly not the gentlemen she has been raised to accept and expect that she will eventually marry. Of course, Adele is over twenty, she’s already had several seasons in London, and is thought to be past the point of being able to pick and choose her future husband.

And her mother makes it clear that Adele needs to pick a man and use her upbringing and English accent to get a husband. Adele does as her mother wishes, but her life does not turn out as Adele or her mother expected. Theresa’s life does not follow the trajectory that her mother wished, either. Her mother wanted her to marry her high school boyfriend, but Theresa had other ideas. Ideas which took her across the country to Pasadena where she has her own apartment and works in hope of a successful career in journalism.

Adele in 1960 is living a very comfortable life, and she wants Theresa to write her biography. Theresa is confused about why Miss Pearce thinks her biography would be of interest to anyone. But the money Miss Pearce is offering is a welcome addition to Theresa’s coffers, so she agrees.

What is revealed in both timelines is that these two women share a similar indomitable spirit. Neither is willing to succumb to the pressures of their time, and both want to be in charge of their life and their legacy. Reading about strong women who defy societal expectations is always a pleasure and with Kelly’s descriptions and beautiful narrative, it’s a joy.

Kelly also makes it clear in the prologue that there will be a wildfire. In Kelly’s capable hands, the dual timelines bring the danger of wildfire in California’s San Gabriel mountains all too clear. It’s a reminder, especially with the recent wildfire that decimated the Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and other areas, that fire is an ever-present danger there. And those of us in other parts of the country are affected as well when the cloud of smoke and particles from the wildfires blanket our towns and cities. I have visited the lovely town of Pasadena. Reading this novel gave me new appreciation for it, and I want to go back.

Also enjoy reading other wonderful historical fiction “The Dressmakers of London,” “The Lost English Girl,” and “The Last Dance of the Debutante” by Julia Kelly.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.