The Tea Rose
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4.6 • 22 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Set in Whitechapel in 1888, THE TEA ROSE is a tale of a love lost and won, of a family's destruction, of murder and revenge -- and one young woman.
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 slowly 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, where she must attempt to bring his killers to justice and restore her family's good name.From the bleak poverty and burgeoning businesses of London to the immigrant districts and glossy lifestyle of Fifth Avenue, from East End dock workers to New York socialites, tHE tEA ROSE is a charming novel of family, fortune, tragedy and tea.'Vividly atmospheric, brilliantly told and great fun to read' Simon Winchester'Bold, brisk and beguiling,tHE tEA ROSE is a splendid brew of a book' Sam twining
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Donnelly indulges in delightfully straightforward storytelling in this comfortably overstuffed novel. In 1880s London, the squalid Thames-side neighborhood of Whitechapel is home to Fiona Finnegan, spunky daughter of Paddy Finnegan. Both are employed by unscrupulous tea merchant William Burton, but Fiona is saving to start a shop with her love, Joe Bristow. Just as her future seems assured, a string of tragedies toppledher hopes. Joe is tricked into marriage to another woman, Burton has Paddy killed for supporting a labor union, Fiona's mother is murdered by Jack the Ripper and Fiona's distraught brother is found dead in the Thames. Fiona had been attempting to get compensation from Burton for her father's death, but when she overhears his boasts of killing Paddy, she must flee for her life with her sole remaining brother, five-year-old Seamie. She rushes to a seaport, but cannot get passage until the wealthy dandy Nicholas Soames offers it, pretending she is his wife. The scene switches to New York City of the Gay '90s, to the glitter of Delmonico's, the elegance of Gramercy Park and the crowded tenements of downtown. Fiona lodges with her alcoholic Uncle Michael and saves both him and his grocery on her way to making her fortune in the tea industry. But she never forgets her family's fate, and when she can, she returns to England to revenge herself on Burton. Though Donnelly's indomitable heroine steps out of period character from time to time her easy acceptance of Soames's homosexuality is particularly unlikely the novel's lively plotting, big cast of warmly drawn characters and long-deferred romantic denouement make this a ripping yarn. In the final dramatic settling of scores, Donnelly even ventures to unmask Jack the Ripper.
