The Tea Rose: A Novel | Jennifer Donnelly

The Tea Rose: A Novel | Jennifer Donnelly | Tea Rose

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The Tea Rose: A Novel

	The Tea Rose: A Novel Jennifer Donnelly Thomas Dunne Books, 2003 - 560 pages average customer review:based on 128 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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, a bright and defiant young woman dares to dream of a life beyond tumbledown wharves, gaslit alleys, and the grim and crumbling dwellings of the poor.

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 dreams are shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death at the dark man's hands, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit-and the ghosts of her past-propel her rise from a modest west side shopfront to the top of Manhattan's tea trade.

Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, however, 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.

The Tea Rose is a towering old-fashioned story, imbued with a modern sensibility, of a family's destruction, of murder and revenge, of love lost and won again, and of one determined woman's quest to survive and triumph.

Authentic and moving, The Tea Rose is an unforgettable novel-one certain to take its place beside such enduring epics as A Woman of Substance, The Thornbirds, and The Shell Seekers.

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A undiscovered treasure

I am an avid reader of so many genres. I happened to see this book and decided to give it a try. I cannot put it down! It is truely great. You fall in love with all the characters. Donnelly is wonderful with the way she lets us get to know each character. I also feel like I am in London, or in New York in the late 1800's. You cheer for Fiona from the first page to the last. I read that Donnelly took ten years to write this book and it is her first. But many readers of her did not start on the Tea Rose. If you have read other books of hers, please read The Tea Rose. You will not be disappointed. I just hated to let the characters go. I am reading Winter Rose next. I know I will love it too.

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Tea Rose

Great book!!!
I will read this book over and over again.
You will never see the twist and turns coming.
Jennifer Donnely writes so well it is an amazing read.

Will be reading more of Donnelly!!!!

"The Tea Rose"

By Jennifer Donnelly

This heartwarming tale begins working-class London where our main character Fiona lives and works. Born into a hard working Irish family, Fiona works long hard hours packing tea at Burton Tea, a major company that her father also works for as a dock worker. The Finnegans are hard working honest folk who are just trying to scrape by in life, but Fiona and her beau Joe dream of bigger and better things for themselves. Determined to open their own shop together and marry, they save every penny they can to get the money to finance their dream life together.

Life takes a turn for the worse however when Fiona's father Paddy joins the Tea Union. Disaster befalls the Finnegans when an "accident" changes their lives forever. Now struggling to make ends meet Fiona and her family are suddenly thrust into poverty, and to make matters worse Joe makes a horrible mistake that causes him to have to leave Fiona forever.

Distraught by grief, Fiona goes to Mr. Burton, the owner of the company she works for to plead for some money to help her family. While at the factory however, she overhears a conversation that she shouldn't have...a conversation that could cost her her life.

Desperate, Fiona grabs up her little brother and heads for America and her Uncle's shop in New York City. She's in for a shock when she gets there however, her Uncle's shop is going up for auction in a few short months. Determined to pursue her dream, Fiona reopens her Uncle's shop and seeks her fortune. But the ghosts of her past still haunt her and are slowly pulling her back to London to seek revenge...

"The Tea Rose" kept me riveted from the very first page. "The Tea Rose" is full of vivid historical fiction from two different countries, England and the U.S. Donnelly creates a vivid picture of two very separate worlds: The working poor, and the elite society.

I felt a deep connection with the main character of Fiona. I felt pain when she did, cried with joy with her, and wanted to leap from my chair when she triumphed. Admittedly this book would be classified as a "chick book." A deep-seeded romance is the true heart of this book, and though irksome at times really brought all of the characters together and kept the story moving at a good pace.

I honestly have no complaints about "The Tea Rose." I loved everything about this book and I didn't want it to end. All lovers of historical fiction have to read "The Tea Rose!" If you don't you are truly missing out. I will definitely be reading more of Jennifer Donnelly in the future!

Five Stars!

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Good novel