Roses for Mama

Roses for Mama is a novel by Janette Oke, published in 1991. Its central character, Angela, is seventeen when she is left responsible for her family.

The family had expected to build a new life out west, and instead Angela takes over the raising of her three younger siblings after their parents die. Her older brother helps her, and she sets out to raise the children the way their mother would have done.

As the younger children grow, the questions and the challenges increase rather than ease. Angela feels trapped and overwhelmed by the arrangement, and she begins to wonder whether any man would want a woman who comes with three children in tow. Her older brother carries what he can of the responsibility, and the two of them try to hold the house and the family together on their own.

The novel is a story of Christian faith and family duty, and it follows a young woman trying to balance the promises she made to her mother against her own hopes for her life.