The Winter Rose

Title: The Winter Rose
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
$26.99


Love. Murder. Honour. Deceit. Loyalty. Betrayal. High Society. Criminal underworlds.

The Winter Rose, Jennifer Donnelly's stylish follow up to her enchanting epic debut novel The Tea Rose combines all these elements and more as well as a cast of strong, memorable characters as the story weaves from poverty stricken East London at the turn of the century, to the wilds of remote Africa.

India Selwyn-Jones is a woman born into a life of privilege and pedigree. But more than this, she is a woman of spirit, determination and fire. So when India is disowned by her wealthy family, she leaves her pampered lifestyle to study to become one of the first female doctors in London and pledges to devote herself to improving the health of England’s capital city’s poor.

Fiona Finnegan, the heroine who captured reader’s hearts in the Tea Rose, continues to grow her TasTea empire with the love and encouragement of her patient, kind hearted childhood love, Joe. But Fiona cannot leave her past behind, the harsh childhood growing up in Whitechapal continues to haunt her – especially the loss of her brother Charlie to the seething criminal underworld that flourishes in the poverty stricken heart of East London. Even her heavily pregnant state and the vulnerability of a woman alone in this seething hotbed of crime does not stop Fiona searching for the brother she knows is out there, ready to come home to his family.

Sid Malone is one of the most brutal, most feared crime lords of Whitechapel ruling the streets with his gang of thugs. But when his life hangs in the balance after a heist goes wrong, Sid is cared for by India, and the doctors ministrations, kindness and understated beauty have a profound effect on him. Can this crime baron ever hope to leave his past, its misery, pain and power behind and come good? Will his past let him?

India, Fiona and Sid's lives are intertwined in a myriad of complex ways that take them on an epic journey of discovery, forgiveness and passion. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly is a captivating and intriguing second instalment in the Tea Rose trilogy that is the perfect way to while away these chilly autumn evenings as you are glued to the very end of this charming novel.