My name is Laura--a name chosen for me not only after a relative but because my much-older sisters were reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series when I was born. I have always had a vested interest, so to speak, in the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Susan Wittig Albert is a marvelously prolific, creatively inspirational writer, with a large palette of visionary and beautiful stories always waiting to be told. Her China Bayles herbal mysteries, her Victorian mysteries (written with her husband under the nom de plume Robin Paige,) her Beatrix Potter Cottage Tales and the relatively new series, "The Darling Dahlias," all show her remarkable talent and amazing interests. This newest Albert book breaks unusual ground.

Here, she takes on the story behind the stories. Based on voluminous research, she takes us down seldom-trod paths, weaving in the story we know about Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books with the little-known background stories revolving around her relationship with her only daughter, Rose. The unmentioned contributions Rose made to her parents' lives in Missouri and to the body of work that became synonymous with Laura is laid out here in A Wilder Rose and takes us behind the scenes with Rose Wilder Lane, a published author and journalist in her own right.

I am obviously a Susan Wittig Albert fan, having read all her books of the last 20 years, which also include some great non-fiction (Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place; and An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days). I hope you will do as I did and read this book with an open mind and an open heart, ready to delve into the complexities of mother/daughter relationships and the accomplishments of this particular duo. The book will challenge your preconceived ideas about the "Little House" books, and yet it will bring you home with a satisfying understanding of book writing, publishing and parenting, yesterday and today.