Press Kit
Photo credit: Meghan Renee Photography.
Reprint of photo is permitted for publicity purposes.
Download photo
Contact Info
For rights inquiries: Please use the form on the contact page.
For press inquiries: Shauna Carlos shcarlos at penguinrandomhouse.com
Two-Line Bio
Rosey Lee writes stories about complicated families and complex friendships, but a happy ending is guaranteed. She is the author of The Gardins of Edin and A Gardin Wedding.
Short Bio
Rosey Lee writes stories about complicated families and complex friendships, but a happy ending is guaranteed. She is a nominee for a 2025 Georgia Author of the Year Award for The Gardins of Edin, her debut novel. A Gardin Wedding is her second novel. Rosey lives in Atlanta, about an hour away from the fictional town of Edin, Georgia, where her characters live. She grew up on the Westbank of New Orleans and carries the area and her loved ones in her heart when she’s away from them.
Long Bio
Rosey Lee writes stories about complicated families and complex friendships, but a happy ending is guaranteed. She is a nominee for a 2025 Georgia Author of the Year Award for The Gardins of Edin, her debut novel. A Gardin Wedding is her second novel. Rosey lives in Atlanta, about an hour away from the fictional town of Edin, Georgia, where her characters live. She grew up on the Westbank of New Orleans and carries the area and her loved ones in her heart when she’s away from them.
As a child, Rosey dreamed of a career in writing, fashion design, and acting. She uses the pen name Rosey Lee as she pursues her passion for writing. Her alter ego is a physician who has dedicated her career to individual and community-based approaches to health equity. Rosey’s essays have appeared in Writer’s Digest, The Nerd Daily, and Deep South Magazine. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, listening to live music, and occasional bursts of fanatical bargain shopping.
Book Covers and Description
When the bonds in their family begin to fray, four Black women fight to preserve their legacy, heal their wounds, and move forward together in this heartwarming contemporary debut novel with loose parallels to beloved women from the Bible.
The four women of the Gardin family live side-by-side in Edin, Georgia, but residing in tight proximity doesn’t mean everything is picture-perfect. Ruth runs the family’s multimillion-dollar peanut business, a legacy of the Gardins’ formerly enslaved ancestors. But tensions have intensified since the death of her husband, Beau, and she feels like an outsider in the very place she wishes to belong.
Sisters Mary and Martha fuel the family tension. Martha’s unfounded mistrust of Ruth causes her to constantly seek ways to undermine Ruth’s decisions with the business, while Mary, trying to focus on her new restaurant that serves healthy comfort food, is dragged into the family fray by Martha.
For years, Naomi, the matriarch who raised the sisters after their parents’ death and supported Ruth in her grief, has played peacemaker. But as she decides to take a step back, hidden truths, life-and-death circumstances, and escalating clashes finally force the Gardin women to grapple with what it means to be a family.
A heartwarming Southern story of family and all its many complexities, The Gardins of Edin delivers a thoughtful portrayal of four women trying to hold on to their secrets. Women who just might—if they can only let go—find the peace they seek by holding on to one another.
One of the Gardin women must navigate a season rich with unexpected challenges in the follow-up to The Gardins of Edin, a heartwarming story about love, forgiveness, new beginnings, and what it takes to get there.
Martha Gardin is a mess. And everyone in the Gardin family knows it. A successful physician, Martha is usually the source of the Gardin family drama, but her heart is in the right place… sometimes. So, the Gardins are pleasantly surprised when Martha mellows out after she begins dating Oji Greenwald, one of the most eligible bachelors in town.
As Martha’s relationship with Oji deepens, she thinks she’s finally about to have the life she’s always wanted. But when Martha attempts to intervene in a health crisis in Oji’s family, she draws the ire of Oji’s mother, Eve Greenwald, which jeopardizes everything. Suddenly, Martha finds herself on a journey full of challenges that force her to deal with her previous mistakes, reconcile her past, and forge a path forward.
Will she be able to look beyond the superficial to find what she’s really needed all along?
Reviews
The Gardins of Edin“Filled with heartfelt moments and inspiring characters.”—Woman’s World Magazine
“Lovingly written, this story explores family dynamics and forgiveness with strength and hope.”—Ms. Magazine
“Though debut novelist Lee loosely based her characters on the women of the Bible, every fan of relationship fiction will enjoy this family drama about four strong Black women who butt heads, follow their dreams, and, eventually, come together.”—Booklist
“Intergenerational women’s relationships, self-care, and setting healthy boundaries are only a few of the themes explored through this quirky and complicated yet lovable family.”—Library Journal
“For fans of well-crafted, character-driven stories with genuine emotional depth.”— African American Literature Book Club
Featured in “Three books to read this January”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Featured in “Fall/Winter Reading List 2023/24” —Deep South Magazine
A Gardin Wedding“Lee beautifully portrays the love of Black people through belle couture, bringing richness and sophistication to her descriptions.”—African American Literature Book Club
Press
Puang, S, “REVIEW: ‘The Gardins of Edin’ is a love letter to families and finding your way back to them“, nola.com, 17 Nov 2024.
Lee, R, “Eating Well, Even on the Page, in Rosey Lee’s The Gardins of Edin”, The Nerd Daily”, 26 Jan 2024.
Dillard, M; D’Agnese, M; Mosness, C, “WW Book Club January 21st – January 27th: 7 Reads You Won’t Be Able to Put Down”, Woman’s World Magazine, 22 Jan 2024.
Lee, R, “A Book Shower for the Single Woman”, Writers Digest, 11 Jan 2024.
Strand, KJ, “January 2024: Reads for the Rest of Us”, Ms. Magazine, 10 Jan 2024.
Lee, R, “A Town Called Edin”, Deep South Magazine, 10 Jan 2024.
Van Atten, S, “Bookshelf: 3 books to read this January”, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5 Jan 2024.
Roberts, H, “Fall/Winter Reading List 2023/24”, Deep South Magazine, 6 Oct 2023.
