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.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 … 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.
Authentic and moving, Jennifer Donnelly’s The Tea Rose is an unforgettable novel.
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Loved this book and the next two that were written as a trilogy.
I would read it again and again my favorite 5 plus
First of a great trilogy. Didn’t want the last book to end.
the book is a little slow, but it is worth it.
This book gave a flavor to Irish history the kept you turning the pages.
The Tea Rose tells the story of Fiona, a girl living with her poor family in 1880s England. She’s madly in love with Joe, a childhood friend. They both have big dreams of becoming tea merchants and have been saving up money to do so. But, like in every story ever told, things don’t turn out that way and Fiona is forced to flee to New York to save …
Enjoyed even though large book kept turning the page .
I never skip ahead when I read. This is my cardinal rule of reading, which I have embraced from my earliest days as a reader. And yet, I could not help myself. I had to know, absolutely had to know, what became of Fiona and, by extension all of the characters in The Tea Rose.
The Tea Rose, set in Jack Ripper’s East End, is nothing if not …
Historical fiction Little romance, fistie female, and a little tea Co.
First in a trilogy…….0ne of the best I’ve ever read…..right up there with GONE WITH THE WIND!