In Philadelphia , on St Georges Road..off of McCallum St. you will find a marker.
The marker reads:

Artist famed for her murals in Pennsylvania's State Capitol, reflecting Penn's ideals of justice and peace. Also noted for her work in stained glass; book and magazine illustrations. One of three women artists who moved in 1906 to "Cogslea," she lived and worked here until 1961.

The marker refers to Violet Oakley, artist, feminist, pacifist and socialist. She sounds to me to be a very intriguing personality. She and Jessie Willcox Smith, and Elizabeth Shippen Green lived in the Mt. Airy neighborhood at a home they christened Cogslea, after their four surnames .(Cozens, Oakley, Green and Smith) They were all atists and they were referred to as The Red Rose Girls.

Cogslea Revisited is a novel based partly on their story.

Early on in this book I was quite put off by the constant insertion of historical data on Philadelphia, and of any artist or historical figure that was mention. Too often it interrupted the flow of the story. I carried on with reading because I was fascinated by the premise of the story. I am glad I did. In the second half of the book there were fewer such comments, and then the story began to flow more smoothly.

If you like a good ghost story, and I do, you will like reading about Coglea and its environs. There are plenty of ghostly happenings, and strange occurrences. They were blended very nicely into the story. Basically, the story is this. Caitlin and her new husband Sam, come to the area to do some housesitting. It just happens to be at the home called Cogslea.

Besides Caitlin and Sam, you will meet Ed, a neighbor and his precocious and somewhat annoying grandson Toby. Friends of Caitlin from college years also enter the picture. The woman who comes in to clean on Thursdays is Maggie, and she takes the ghosts of the house for granted. She is not a very charming character, but she is interesting.

Malindi is Caitlin's African wild dog and was perhaps my favorite character of all. Malindi is of course sweet, loving and intuitive, as so many dogs are. She also has the advantage of dreaming in parables and making friends with verbose spirits.

Bottom line is this. I am being generous with the stars, according to my typical reviews. I have added one star just for the interesting subject matter. This is unusual for me, but I want to encourage people to read this book and perhaps to do some research into the Red Rose Girls and Cogslea. I know that I will. Fascinating subjects!

Typically for me, three stars is a good solid read, and that is what I would normally give this book.
A good book that I am glad I read. As I said, I would like to encourage those who are interested in history and art and Philadelphia, not to mention a ghostly tale to read this book. There is just something about it .
Take the extra star and use it to light the way to more information on these compelling subjects.

I would like to see this author write a nonfiction book on this area and these subjects. That is a book I would certainly buy. ( )