Blackberry and Wild Rose: A gripping and emotional read - Softcover

Velton, Sonia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1787470768 ISBN 13: 9781787470767

Publisher: Quercus, 2019

Synopsis

'Sumptuous and moving. Velton weaves her tale with the threads of betrayal, thwarted dreams and good intentions gone awry' Laura Purcell

'A richly imagined and brilliantly twisty tale' Anna Mazzola

'A plot as finely detailed as Spitalfields silk' Stacey Halls

WHEN ESTHER THOREL, the wife of a Huguenot silk-weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel she thinks she is doing God's will. Sara is not convinced being a maid is better than being a whore, but the chance to escape her grasping 'madam' is too good to refuse.

INSIDE THE THORELS' tall house in Spitalfields, where the strange cadence of the looms fills the attic, the two women forge an uneasy relationship. The physical intimacies of washing and dressing belie the reality: Sara despises her mistress's blindness to the hypocrisy of her household, while Esther is too wrapped up in her own secrets to see Sara as anything more than another charitable cause.

IT IS SILK that has Esther so distracted. For years she has painted her own designs, dreaming that one day her husband will weave them into reality. When he laughs at her ambition, she unwittingly sets in motion events that will change the fate of the whole Thorel household and set the scene for a devastating day of reckoning between her and Sara.

THE PRICE OF a piece of silk may prove more than either is able to pay.

About this title

Review:

A sumptuous and moving debut. Velton weaves her tale with the threads of betrayal, thwarted dreams and good intentions gone awry (Laura Purcell)

Velton gives [her characters] genuine depth in a moving story of love, secrets and betrayal (Sunday Times)

This exquisitely evocative novel will appeal to fans of The Miniaturist (Sarra Manning Red)

With a richly detailed evocation of the era, including the shockingly grim life of the poor and the repression of women, this assured and multi-layered historical novel weaves its own magical spell (Fabulous magazine)

Romance and revenge, hypocrisy and hardship play out against a vividly researched backdrop (S magazine)

Book Description:

For fans of Jessie Burton and Tracy Chevalier, a rich historical debut set among the Huguenot silk weavers of Spitalfields in the late 18th century

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1787470768
• ISBN 13: 9781787470767
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416