The Tea Rose - Softcover

Donnelly, Jennifer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312993560 ISBN 13: 9780312993566

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 2004

Synopsis

Her family and dreams shattered by her father's untimely death at the hands of a ruthless tea baron, Fiona Finnegan flees East London and eventually establishes herself at the head of the tea trade in New York. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

‘This is a most seductive novel. You’ll be charmed by the novels heroine – her intelligence, her courage, her great heart. Despite her suffering – a lost love, a tragic family – there are moments you will want to cheer. It’s the kind of novel where the writing is so fluid you feel the author simply loves telling her story. This is a splendid, heartwarming novel of pain, struggle, decency, triumph – and just what we need in these times.’ Frank McCourt

‘I loved this vividly researched and wonderfully rumbustious yarn – brilliantly told, great fun to read.’ Simon Winchester

‘Bold, brisk and beguiling, The Tea Rose is a splendid brew of a book.’ Sam Twining

'It's so much fun...This is London in the 1880s, the London of Charles Dickens and Edward Rutherford, a teeming, messy place full of business, dirt and poverty. Once in New York, we trip from the tenements of the Lower East Side to elegant dining at Delmonico's, with hardly a paragraph to catch our breath...The atmosphere of both starring cities is created in satisfying detail. One can walk the streets and listen to the people chat in the company of Jennifer Donnelly, who has done her historical homework...She delivers.' Washington Post

‘The Tea Rose is the kind of book that calls for a rainy day, a cozy chair and a good, steaming cup of tea. It’s strong and satisfying, with a taste that lingers in the memory.’ Paula Cohen

From the Back Cover:

Following in the footsteps of such beloved epics as A Woman of Substance, The Thornbirds, and The Shell Seekers comes this towering story of murder and revenge, of love lost and won again, and of one determined woman's quest to survive and triumph...

The Tea Rose
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.
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"Full of warmth and rich period detail, The Tea Rose begs for a comfy, overstuffed chair and plenty of time to keep turning those pages." -Dallas Morning News

"Steeped in melodrama, revenge, and a maddeningly star-crossed romance...a fine yarn." -People

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0312993560
• ISBN 13: 9780312993566
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 756