By the Rent of a Rose was inspired by the name (Rose) of a grandmother Anne Garden never met because Rose died when Anne's father was an infant. Intrigued by Rose, of whom the family rarely spoke, Anne began to search for her in genealogical records but could find little about her. The chance discovery, however, of a man called Robertus de Rossbotham living in the early fifteenth century on a property called the Rossbotham at Stalybridge (now part of Greater Manchester) offered a vital clue and sent Anne down a new path of investigation into her family antecedents.
Over the centuries, the name Rossbotham (and variants) spread west and south in England, to Ireland, perhaps to Scotland, to America, the West Indies, Australia, Argentina, and finally to Dunedin in New Zealand. In her lyrical telling of the Rossbotham story, Anne not only relates each Rossbotham she encountered to the historical and social influences of that person's times but also recounts the journey she took when tracing this family name down through the centuries.

Some shelf wear.