A Transplanted Rose: A Story of New York Society

Tammy Hanson

University of New Orleans, December 2015

            A Transplanted Rose: A Story of New York Society is a novel by Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood published in 1882. It was glowingly reviewed by Harper’s Magazine, which stated that its “incidents have the spice of variety, its characters are vivacious, life-like, and finely contrasted, and its scenes alternately sparkle with wit, or glow with feeling, or are shaded by the darker tragedy” (967). The novel’s protagonist, Rose Chadwick, exhibits characteristics typical of the female bildungsroman. She loses her mother at a very young age and is forced by her father to move to New York City and acquire the necessary etiquette to attain social status among the New York elite. Rose is a beautiful and gifted woman, but she is subjected to scorn and prejudice due to her ignorance of social customs. Through her struggles to acclimate, as amusing as they are embarrassing, Rose manages to emerge as a refined young woman and find love, marriage and happiness. Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood was born on October 27, 1826 in Keene, New Hampshire. The daughter of General James and Mary Richardson Wilson, she was the oldest of seven children of a distinguished family of Scotch-Irish origin. Her grandfather, James Wilson was a representative from Keene, New Hampshire in Congress (Welter 284). She attended school in Keene, then lived as a boarder at a fashionable private school for girls in Boston. Sherwood became part of Washington social life as a hostess during her father’s term in Congress from 1847 to 1950 (Welter 285). Upon her mother’s death in 1884 Sherwood also assumed the duties of family management. Her first literary work was an essay on the “Novel of Jane Eyre” sent to the New York Tribune in 1848 which attracted much friendly criticism. She contributed approximately 300 short stories to various magazines and newspapers, and gave readings for charitable projects. She married John Sherwood in 1854 and they had four sons. Sherwood died on September 12, 1903 in New York City. Her other works include: A Sarcasm of Destiny, Royal Girls and Royal Courts, Sweet Briar: The Art of Entertaining, Home Amusements, Amenities of Home, and An Epistle to Posterity.

Works Cited

“Editor’s Literary Record.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, vol. 65, 1882, pp. 966-67.
Archive.org, archive.org/stream/harpersnew65various#page/n981/mode/2up.
Welter, Barbara A. “Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood.” Notable American Women, 1607-1950:
A Biographical Dictionary, 1971.