In 1957, two young women, Essie Donnelly and Minnie Pryor, one white and one black, travel together in a deeply segregated South to begin a harrowing search for the daughter of Essie's deceased sister Jewell. Essie struggles with life without her sister and the failure of her writing career. Minnie confronts her stigma of poverty and racism. Together, the women are challenged with racial misgivings, striving to settle them despite the color of their skin. While their search for personal truth is manifested in their relationship with each other as well as the racial culture of the Deep South, the women are on a precarious journey.The love of Essie's life, Sam Washington, is left behind, not sure if Essie will return to her beloved Madison County.A Good Year for Roses brims with intrigue and passion in a magnolia-scented south. From the quaint, historical town of Boston, Georgia, to the breathtaking plantations in Georgia's Thomas County, the hunt for Jewell's daughter, despite its adversities, is pursued with a tenacity that can only be driven by Essie's love for her late sister and the child she's never met.