The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Book Description:
The vast multi-generational epic that began with The Tea Rose and continued with The Winter Rose now reaches its dramatic conclusion in The Wild Rose. 

London, 1914. World War I is looming on the horizon, women are fighting for the right to vote, and global explorers are pushing the limits of endurance at the Poles and in the deserts. Into this volatile time, Jennifer Donnelly places her vivid and memorable characters:

- Willa Alden, a passionate mountain climber who lost her leg while climbing Kilimanjaro with Seamus Finnegan, and who will never forgive him for saving her life.

- Seamus Finnegan, a polar explorer who tries to forget Willa as he marries a beautiful young woman back home in England.

- Max von Brandt, a handsome sophisticate who courts high society women, but who has a secret agenda as a German spy;

- and many others.

At last, the great conclusion to the Tea Rose Series!  I found it riveting, melancholy and hard to stop thinking about. I'm truly sad it's all over for this was a great series.  I didn't think I was going to be crazy about this book, for Willa Alden, the obstreperous heroine, is hard to like at first.  We first get to know her in the previous book, The Winter Rose and she rubbed me the wrong way.  Stubborn, impetuous and annoying, she acted like a spoiled brat who always had to get her way.  Not in a ritzy, pampered spoiled kind of way.  She's a rough and tumble tomboy.  A mountain climber with an intense drive to get to the top first - in whatever she does.  She is described at one point in The Wild Rose as someone who steps all over other people that get in her way, regardless of their feelings and desires.  As much as Willa bugged me at first, I wound up loving her in this book.  We really get inside her head and her many adventures are full of surprises!

Willa is loved by Seamus Finnegan, and vice versa, yet because of a harrowing fall on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Willa lost a leg.  Seamus was with her and had to make the choice of either having her leg amputated or let her die.  Of course, he chose the leg and because climbing was her life she couldn't deal with it and turned away from him to venture out on her own.  The Wild Rose picks up several years later.  Willa is living at the foot of Mt. Everest, a photographer - and addicted to opium.  The drug eases her pain for her lost leg - and her lost love: Seamie.  Despite her addiction, the still beautiful Willa is hardy and brave while living alone at the end of the world.  Her fierce independence, combined with an underlying vulnerability prove irresistible to most men who have a tendency to fall in love with her. She has a certain je ne sais quoi.  She is memorable. 

And what about Seamie?  He has become a famous explorer, but he has never stopped thinking of Willa and wondering about her.  He has remained unmarried, she is the love of his life.  But he meets a young woman, the daughter of a vicar while in London and due to a series of events, they marry.  She's a nice young girl, but their marriage is built on a web of lies.  The story becomes more and more complex.  As WWI is looming, we get to know Max von Brandt, a spy for the Germans who has a knack of invading London's social circles.  He's very charming and also very good at blackmail.  I really liked his character, even though he's a "bad guy."  Or is he?

I'm leaving tons out, but this is a great book.  It's sprawling adventure is captivating!  Willa, Seamus and Max's lives are all tangled up together from London to the Sahara.  Fiona and Joe are still around from the previous books, and we even see a bit of Charlie and India from The Winter Rose.  The most wonderful part of this book is the love between Seamie and Willa, who never stop loving one another, despite what happens to them.  I found it hard to put this book down it was so good - exhausting too!

I highly recommend this entire series, it's hard for me to say which one of the books is my favorite, but I think it's this one, The Wild Rose.  A great and fitting finale to one of my favorite historical fiction series.  It's full of emotion, adventure, interesting locales and the writing and research that goes into the plot lines is first rate.  It fits the bill with a romantic edge to it as well.  You won't be sorry!

4.5/5

Overall Series: 5/5

Share

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Book Description:
When India Selwyn Jones, a young woman from a noble family, graduates from the London School of Medicine for Women in 1900, her professors advise her to set up her practice in London's esteemed Harley Street. Driven and idealistic, India chooses to work in the city's East End instead, serving the desperately poor.

In these grim streets, India meets-and saves the life of London's most notorious gangster, Sid Malone. A hard, wounded man, Malone is the opposite of India's aristocratic fiancé, Freddie Lytton, a rising star in the House of Commons. Though Malone represents all she despises, India finds herself unwillingly drawn ever closer to him, intrigued by his hidden, mysterious past.

Though they fight hard against their feelings, India and Sid fall in love, and their unpredictable, passionate and bittersweet affair causes destruction they could never have imagined. Sweeping from London to Kenya to the wild, remote coast of California, The Winter Rose is a breathtaking return to the epic historical novel, from a masterful writer with a fresh, richly vivid, and utterly electrifying voice.

Recently I came across a book review in which a friend was so overwhelmed by a good book, all she could think of saying at first was how awesome it was.  I know the feeling.  I often feel stymied when I've read a great book. "I am not worthy, I am not worthy"  How can I review something when my words are nothing more than a lowly worm in comparison?

That's how I feel about The Winter Rose.  It was great, even better than it's predecessor, The Tea Rose.

Set in the year 1900, the story picks up where The Tea Rose left off.  Fiona Finnegan has been happily married to Joe Bristow but still misses her brother Charlie who has changed his name and become the infamous mobster known as Sid Malone.  Untouchable and feared, he is the leader of the poorest neighborhood in the East End of London.  Fiona wants to get in touch with him, but he'll have none of it.  He wants nothing to do with her.  He wants to leave his former life behind - for good.  He's been through too much as a criminal; he can never again be the brother Fiona longs for.  She refuses to give up - against her husband's wishes, thus jeopardizing her marriage.  Donnelly's descriptions of the dark and grimy streets of Whitechapel and Limehouse are vividly realistic whether we're following Fiona's harrowing search or Sid's criminal activities that ironically lead him to who will become the love of his life.

Paralleling Fiona and Joe's storyline, the main focus of The Winter Rose is on brand new doctor, India Selwyn Jones who's goal is to open a free clinic in Whitechapel, the most needy area in the East End.  Although born to an old and aristocratic family, she longs to help the poor - women in particular, eschewing her money's wealth and privilege.   India soon meets Sid Malone.  She's aware of his reputation as a gangster and dislikes him, yet she cannot help feeling drawn to him somehow.  After saving his life they form a tentative truce - a friendship.  Sid would like to help her with funds to start a clinic but she refuses to accept his blood money.  They run into each other frequently and soon they can't help but fall in love. 

India's life is complicated.  She faces the daily trials and harsh realities of being a doctor in Whitechapel.  The doctor she works under us unbearably chauvinistic towards his female patients and India finds it harder and harder to work with him.  Yet, she has the help and friendship of her co-worker Ella who shares in her dream to open a women's clinic. In addition, she is engaged to Freddie Lytton, a vain and ruthless young politician who has no scruples left to speak of.  He has completely bamboozled her into believing he loves her for herself.  But really he's marrying her for her fortune which will become his once they tie the knot - a deal he has made with her cold and austere mother who wants India to leave medicine behind and be a good society wife.  India doesn't love Freddie but she's known him forever as a childhood friend and she's fond of him.  But it's not like what she feels for the dangerous Sid Malone!   Soon she cannot deny her feelings for Sid and - fortuitously before the wedding - she finds out what Freddie has been up to with her mother and breaks off their engagement.  But that's not the end of Freddie - he plays a large and important role in the entire book.  His mad desire for power was both repellent and fascinating.  His just desserts were one of the most satisfying endings I've read in fiction.

Once Sid and India become lovers, it's glorious for them, although it must be kept in secret.  I was so happy for them, but at the same time - so worried!  No one can know!  Sid has too many enemies who could use India against him, plus it would ruin her reputation - they're not married!  He wants to leave his criminal life behind and they plan to run away together to Point Reyes, California where they can marry and start anew - but things don't go as planned.  So many forces work against these two.  At this point, the book was nearly impossible to put down until the end.

I won't give away anymore about the plot, but it was great!  I never would have thought I'd be so into this kind of storyline of a do good woman doctor who hooks up with a no good scoundrel!  But, it's so much more than that!  I was on the edge of my seat.  Sid's and India's lives are tumultuous.  We follow them from London to Africa and it's a bumpy, rocky road! The other characters in the novel give the story that needed balance so that the reader is not too overwhelmed by what is happening to Sid and India.  The side story of Fiona and Joe created some angst, but the other story of younger brother Seamie and Willa was riveting!  Not only did it keep my interest - their climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro was harrowing and incredibly descriptive and well done.  I felt like I was a mountain climber right there with them!  I admit, as much as I loved it, it left me exhausted and I needed a break from time to time.  It was easy to become swept up in all the various locales and storylines whether it was Whitechapel, Limehouse, Kenya or Mt. Kilimanjaro! 

This is turning out to be a great series, although I would have liked a little more detail in the last chapter and epilogue.  Hopefully we'll get more of that in the next book in the series.  Still, it warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes - it's just so good!

If you enjoy historical fiction with a heavy romantic and suspenseful storyline as well, you'll love this.  Donnelly is a wonderful author and her descriptions and research are fantastic.  The period comes alive - you are there with her characters! I'm bowled over by it.  India and Sid's poignant romance will stay with me.  Sad and memorable - though don't worry, there is a happy ending!  I am really looking forward to The Wild Rose now which continues the story of Seamie and Willa! 

This was an awesome read!

4.5/5

Share

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Book Description:
East London, 1888 -- a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams.

But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything -- and everyone -- she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

What a great book! Just the sort of historical fiction I love to sink my teeth into. I marveled at how authentic it all seemed, the details were wonderful bringing the drab and depressing feel of Victorian London and the poverty and squalor of Whitechapel in the late 1880's to life. The author really excelled at conjuring up this time period in London and New York. What seemed like a slow start with the book, turned into a riveting page turner after the first 150 pages. The story kept my interest and I wanted to find out what happens in the story of Fiona Finnegan and what becomes of her and her flight to New York. Her characters were well developed and I cared about them. The book drew me into it's world and I loved every minute of it. It was suspenseful, romantic, historically interesting and just a lot of fun to read!

Fiona and Joe Bristow are sweethearts in Whitechapel, London. A poor part of the city, it is also the backdrop in 1888 of Jack the Ripper, which plays a large part in the story. Fiona and Joe are saving up to open a shop of their own and get married. But, unfortunately, their plans go awry and Fiona loses everything: her family and a future with Joe in London. Plus, she is in mortal danger, and must flee to her Uncle Michael's, who lives in and has a small grocery in New York City. En route to New York with her little brother Seamie, they meet up with Nick, a young aristocrat who is going to New York himself to open an art gallery of impressionist work. Nick has his reasons for leaving London as well, and befriends them and they pose as a married couple with Seamie as their son. Nick is a "toff" and they travel in first class on the ship that takes them to New York. He is also homosexual and becomes Fiona's confidante and best friend.

Once in New York, she finds her uncle, who is suffering from depression after losing his wife to cholera and has become a terrible drunk. But, Fiona makes friends immediately with his neighbors and takes over the floundering grocery. In no time she meets a handsome and wealthy middle aged widower, Will McClane, who falls for her and he asks her to marry him. The New York parts of the book were my favorites. I loved reading how Fiona gets the grocery up and running and is courted by millionaire Will. He takes her to Delmonicos for dinner, Central Park, and his mansion on Fifth Avenue. Fiona likes him, but doesn't love him, he's a good man, but all along her heart is still back in London with Joe, her former love who she unsuccessfully tries to forget. We also see Joe's side of the love story between them and how he is dealing with Fiona running away. Joe and Fiona never stop loving one another, no matter all the ordeals they must go through. Plenty of angst and missed meetings and communications between them that I found very frustrating, but I really felt for both of them, even though they were separated for the majority of the book, which only made their reunion that much sweeter. But, there is so much more to the book than their love story.

Fiona is a born merchant and she has a nose for tea. With Nick and Seamie by her side she is able to rise in power as one of the most successful females in business in New York. She starts her own tea brand and opens tea houses throughout the city. She becomes a phenomonal success. But her ultimate goal is to one day be able to avenge her father's murder and ruin the man that was behind it. It all leads back to London, her past and Joe which culminates in an exciting and suspenseful last 50 pages of the book. The main focus of the book is all about Fiona and how she rises from nothing and succeeds in ruining the man who destroyed her family.

I really enjoyed The Tea Rose and highly recommend it. The descriptions of this period all rang true and the story itself was riveting, although the coincidences and good fortune that comes Fiona's way were a bit reminiscent of a TV miniseries from the 1980's. There is also a surprise at the ending that was left open ended, which I found vague and disappointing, almost as if it was tacked on to leave plenty of room for the sequel, The Winter Rose, which I am now eager to read. It continues the story of Fiona and Joe and their families.

4/5

Share