The Winter Rose [Paperback]

Jennifer Donnelly (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 6, 2009

It has been twelve years since a dark, murderous figure stalked the alleys and courts of Whitechapel. And yet, in the summer of 1900, East London is still poor, still brutal, still a shadow city to its western twin. Among the reformers is an idealistic young woman named India Selwyn-Jones, recently graduated from medical school. With the help of her influential fiance--Freddie Lytton, an up-and-coming Liberal MP--she works to shut down the area's opium dens that destroy both body and soul. Her selfless activities better her patients' lives and bring her immense gratification, but unfortunately, they also bring her into direct conflict with East London's ruling crime lord--Sid Malone.

India is not good for business and at first, Malone wants her out. But against all odds, India and Sid fall in love. Different in nearly every way, they share one thing in common--they're both wounded souls. Their love is impossible and they know it, yet they cling to it desperately. Lytton, India's fiance, will stop at nothing to marry India and gain her family's fortune.

Fractious criminal underlings and rivals conspire against Sid. When Sid is finally betrayed by one of his own, he must flee London to save his life. Mistakenly thinking him dead, India, pregnant and desperate, marries Freddie to provide a father for hers and Sid's child. India and Sid must each make a terrible sacrifice--a sacrifice that will change them both forever. One that will lead them to other lives, and other places...and perhaps--one distant, bittersweet day--back to each other.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In late Victorian London, idealistic new medical school graduate India Selwyn Jones goes to work at a clinic in the city's poorest neighborhood, much to the dismay of her aristocratic mother and ambitious fiancé, political up-and-comer Freddie Lytton. The squalor is a bit much for India, but she manages to keep her emotions under control until she meets underworld crime boss Sid Malone. Sid begins as India's nemesis, becomes her patient and ends up something much more than that. What India doesn't know is that Sid is the brother of tea heiress Fiona Bristow, wife of self-made, highly principled businessman Joseph Bristow. What Sid doesn't know is that India's fiancé is as ruthless as Sid's most ruthless henchman, willing to commit theft, betrayal and even murder to launch his career, force India out of hers and bring down Sid in the process. In typical epic style, Donnelly (The Tea Rose) alternates India's story with Sid's, Freddie's, Joseph's and Fiona's, leading the reader through turn-of-the-century England from the Houses of Parliament to ale houses and whore houses, and from London to Africa and beyond. It's all familiar stuff, but Donnelly's passion and energy will keep readers turning the many pages, rooting for India and the gruff underworld boss she loves. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"I loved this book. It is truly seductive, hard to put down, and filled with mystery, secret passions, unique locations, and a most engaging heroine. India Selwyn Jones is a new breed of woman in London in 1900, a doctor practicing in the grim East End, and she captivates from the first page to the last." -- --Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of The Ravenscar Dynasty and A Woman of Substance --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; Reprint edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401307469
• ISBN-13: 978-1401307462
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 2 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My first childhood memories are of dad trying to get me to eat lima beans, and my mom telling me stories. I still won't eat lima beans, but the stories have stuck with me, and these days, I'm telling a few of my own.

I've written three novels so far: A Northern Light, The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, and Humble Pie, a picture book for children.

My first novel, The Tea Rose, an epic set in London and New York in the late 19th century, was called 'exquisite' by Booklist, 'so much fun' by the Washington Post, a 'guilty pleasure' by People and was named a Top Pick by the Romantic Times.

My second novel, A Northern Light, set in the Adirondack Mountains of 1906, against the backdrop of an infamous murder, won the Carnegie Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Borders Original Voices Award, and was named a Printz Honor book. Described as 'rich and true' by The New York Times, the book was named to the Best Book lists of The Times (London), The Irish Times, The Financial Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and the School Library Journal.

The Winter Rose, my third novel and the second book in the The Tea Rose trilogy, is out now in the United Kingdom and will be published in the United States in January 2008.

Humble Pie, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Stephen Gammell, tells the story of a selfish little boy named Theo who ultimately gets his just desserts.

I live in New York's Hudson Valley with my husband, our daughter, and Hannibal Lecter, our snapping turtle, whom we love dearly, but from a distance.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Saga February 18, 2008

By Tamela Mccann TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The Winter Rose, a sequel to The Tea Rose, is a simply stunning tale of family drama, politics, and medicine at the turn of the last century. Ms. Donnelly brings back familiar characters such as Fiona and Joe, and adds newer ones that equally enthrall. Long and densely written, this is a book you will not want to put down and one that will stay with you for a very long time.

The scene opens on India Selwyn Jones's graduation from medical school in 1900. Full of idealistic notions, India chooses to forestall marriage to Freddie Lytton while she pursues clinical help in the lower classes of Whitechapel. India isn't marrying Freddie for love, though she is fond of him, but his reasons are much more nefarious. Naive and determined, India is shocked when she has to treat the notorious gangster Sid Malone. As Sid's life hangs in the balance, the two share their stories and eventually become lovers. At the same time as their story is unfolding, Joe Bristow decides it is time for him to go into politics, and his life takes a nasty turn at the hands of Sid. Or was it Sid? The story moves at a fast clip and keeps the characters entangled with lots of coincidences and near-misses. How the path to happiness develops for India, Joe, Fiona, and Sid will keep you turning the pages. The introduction of Seamie, Fiona's younger brother, and his adventurous spirit, help set the stage for a third entry in the series sometime in the future.

This is a fabulous book with larger than life characters. It is satisfying in its ability to bring the reader into the story and it will make you care deeply for every person and situation. It is indeed a tour de force, and one I can wholeheartedly recommend to those who love family sagas, historical fiction, and plain good storytelling.... Highly, highly recommended. Read more ›

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A sequel that lives up in every way to its predecessor January 8, 2008

By Lilly Flora VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I loved the first novel in this series so much that when I heard the second book had been published in England years ahead of when it was coming out here I ordered it from the U.K. and waited eagerly for it to arrive in the mail. When it finally came I was so happy I did a little dance.

I admit to having very high expectations of this novel, but they were met in spades. "The Winter Rose" did not disappoint. Just like its predecessor, "The Winter Rose" is exciting, romantic, atmospheric and packed full of little historical details that make the words spring to life off the page.

You may not want to read past this point if you haven't read "The Tea Rose."

In "The Winter Rose" we meet up again with Charlie Finnegan, who at the end of "The Tea Rose" was discovered not to be dead, but living under the name of Sid Malone as a crime boss in London. Though his sister Fiona tries to get Charlie to come back to his family, he has lived too long as Sid to feel he can rejoin society.

Enter India Jones a recent graduate of medical school. Though she is from a highly privileged family, India wants to practice medicine in one of London's worst neighborhoods-White Chapel. Here she meets Sid and saves his life. Though she's disgusted by his life of crime, India soon finds herself going to Sid to procure birth control for her poorest patients-something that "modern" doctors will not prescribe or allow patients to have. A bond soon forms between the two that evolves into something more than friendship-despite India's privileged, long time fiancé....

And as is a must in any great sequel, the characters we came to know and love in "The Tea Rose" have returned, and though they are not the center focus, we get to see what their lives have become since we left them.

Like "The Tea Rose", "The Winter Rose" takes place in two parts, years apart from one another. It takes us from the poorest sections of London to the high reaches of Kilimanjaro, from Coffee plantations to California hillsides. We met murderous men, compassionate women and scheming politicians. "The Winter Rose" is an epic love story, an adventure and a feast for any reader. It is a book to savor, to read slowly and take in all the details, though you may need to speed through it to find out what happens! I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Five stars. I eagerly await the third novel in this series. This author does write slowly, but the finished product is more than worth the wait Read more ›

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Major disappointment October 6, 2008

By booklover 67

Format:Hardcover

The book started out so well and promising that I couldn't believe the plot elements and drastic character changes that took place long after I got hooked on the story and the characters.

I think it is one thing to change a heroine from a subjugated, humiliated door mat with zero self confidence to a free, unconventional and independent woman with a will of her own but quite another thing if it is the other way around. India starts as a free spirited, extraordinarily strong woman far ahead of her time but is then inexplicably turned into a meek, conventional doormat who prostitutes herself in the worst manner possible (in a figurative sense). She makes -knowingly and with her eyes wide open!!!-such a self destructive choice that I would have found it more consistent had she committed suicide because what she did was a slow sort of suicide anyway.

Not only didn't I recognize the heroine anymore I completely and utterly loathed her. I wished that she would have been eaten away by a sand storm but alas no such luck for me... The worst thing for me was not even that the author basically killed off her main character (again in a figurative sense), the worst thing was that it was so completely unnecessary.

The plot would have been perfectly fine if India had made another much more character-consistent choice. Besides another choice-any other choice!-would have been much more realistic. There were so many possibilities but the author chose the worst alley open to her. She completely dragged an actually lovable, admirable character through the mud. It drove me absolutely nuts....

I would have given the book a five stars plus review before I got to the point where India betrayed all her ideals and what she believed in before but after that point of no return I would have liked to give it less than zero stars. Never has a book that I initially loved made me so mad and angry. But maybe exactly that was what made me so angry.

The only redeemable thing about that book was that I found out a lot about the back story of Fiona which made me desperately wish that I had read "Tea Rose" instead of "Winter Rose". Her story was actually the only thing that kept me reading. Now, Fiona is the kind of heroine I like to read about. But India was one of the most insufferable heroines I ever encountered in a historical novel. I really wished she had been devoured by a tiger. Read more ›