Review: The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Yes, first The Tea Rose, third The Wild Rose
Pages: 536
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Hyperion
Buy: Amazon

Here is a link to my review of the first in the series The Tea Rose.

Summary: 
This novel follows India Selwyn Jones a young woman who has recently graduated from medical school. She is head strong and does not want to be stopped from practicing medicine. Her fiance Freddie Lytton, an up and coming star in the House of Commons, does not want her to practice. India starts working in a medical clinic in Whitechapel where she comes across poverty that she has not seen before. She does not agree with the owner of the medical establishment she is working at and leaves to start her own. While doing this she meets Fiona, who helps her start the medical practice. She also meets Sid Malone, when she saves his life after an injury, who she falls in love with against her better judgement. Sid Malone and his gang who control Whitechapel are involved in bettering the area but must remain a gang. When Sid tries to leave the criminal life things don't go as planed. India is left wondering what to do and Sid flees without telling India. This leads to a life of unhappiness for both.

Feelings: 
The Winter Rose is a good second book for the series. It did take me a while longer to get into this book than it did the first. That isn't to say I didn't like it, just that I found it slightly harder to follow as we jumped between three story lines rather than following just one. Once I got used to the difference in writing style the book was much more enjoyable to read. I liked that we followed, all of the Finnegan siblings in this story. It picks up with Fiona where it left off, and starts the story of Sid Malone, Fiona's brother who was thought to be dead, and begins the story of Seamie. I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series if you are going to read this. Jennifer Donnelly is a consistent writer and while both The Winter Rose and The Tea Rose have similar plot structure there are different enough characters to make it a good read.