THE
TEA ROSE
BY
JENNIFER DONNELLY
THE
BLURB:-
Fiona Finnegan, the
spirited, ambitious daughter of an Irish dock worker, longs to break
free from the squalid alleys of Whitechapel. But her dreams fall
apart with the sudden death of her father and the disappearance of
her childhood love.
Fiona flees to New York
where she builds a small grocery shop into a thriving tea house. But
she cannot forget London. Convinced that her father was murdered,
Fiona returns to the streets of her childhood to attempt to bring his
killers to justice- and restore her family's good name.
Ranging from the bleak
East End to the burgeoning businesses of Victorian London, to New
York's immigrant district and glossy Fifth Avenue lifestyles, The Tea
Rose is a heartwarming story of family, fortune, tragedy and tea.
THE
REALITY:-
This was the kind of
novel that I fall over myself to read- a tome and-a-half, set in my
hometown of London (well, a lot of it was!) and a real rags to
riches, gritty story of success and triumph in the face of adversity.
That's what I want for myself, too. Conceited? Maybe. Realistic?
Maybe not. But one can live in hope, because without hope you have
nothing. I have the talent and, I like to think, the application to
be successful. I truly believe that it will happen. So far, luck
has eluded me and it's always nice to have a little recognition each
step of the way, for motivational purposes. This hasn't yet
happened, but I'm confident that it will.
Enough of my hopes for
the future! Hope is a big theme in the early parts of The Tea Rose. This novel has stayed in my collection for 14 years
because it really touched me. But now, I've acknowledged the fact
that it has to go as it's looking too well-read and tattered. So bedraggled that it's going into the recycling bin as opposed to the
charity bag.
This book is a real
masterpiece and I'm surprised that it hasn't become a worldwide
blockbuster. It has it all- fantastic characters with real hearts
and faults, well-known locations, a historical sense of time and
place and little stories within the mainframe. This book is long
and richly detailed: in my mind, just as a novel should be. We
really feel for the main character, Fiona. When she's in love, we
love too. When her heart is broken, we break with her. And, when
her family are almost wiped out we urge her to put one foot in front
of the other and gradually pick herself up. She does that, but the
way in which she does is dangerous and we pick up on the sense of
urgency as she tries to flee her antagonist. This she does
physically, but mentally he's always there, and this need for revenge
spurs her on and forms the basis for the story.
Apart from Fiona, I
also loved Nick and his quirks and found some of Seamie's
proclamations and antics hilarious. So inspired was I by this novel
that I took myself off to find the Prospect of Whitby and the Town of
Ramsgate, situated on the north bank of the Thames. I spent my 35th
birthday drinking in these two establishments (it was a very hot day
and I also got sunstroke, but that's another story!) and made time to
soak up the atmosphere whist sitting on the old stairs. Read the
book and you'll find out what they are, and why they're significant.
The author has
certainly done her research with regards to the tea business and
London industrial life in the late 1800s, and I like the fact that
Jack the Ripper is also a significant part of the novel, marrying
reality with fiction. There are twists and turns and interesting
outcomings and also a happy ending.
Two more novels have
been written in this series and I'm actually loathe to read them as
I've yet to find a sequel as good as the original, and they don't
sound as good. But I fear that temptation will get the better of me.
I'm yet to compile my favourite ten, or even five, good reads of all
time. But when I do, The Tea Rose will definitely be on it.
Farewell, special novel.
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