Review: The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Yes, second Winter Rose, third Wild Rose
Pages: 675
Copyright: 2002
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
This story takes place in Whitechapel, East London, in 1888 during the time of Jack the Ripper. Fiona Finnegan, and her family live and work with the tea factory there. Fiona is a strong willed young woman, who is in love with Joe Bristow a friend since childhood. Whitechapel takes the lives of Fiona's family except for her younger brother Seamie. Having lost family, love, and fearful of her safety and that of her younger brother Fiona flees London for New York where she has family. She meets Nicholas Soames at the harbor and in desperation, when she cannot get tickets, she travels in his company to New York. On arrival in New York things are not everything they seemed to be, the shop Fiona had hoped to work in, which her uncle owned is shut down and her uncle has lost his family and become a drunk. She sets out to fill her and Joe's dream of opening a shop, but life in New York is not everything she expected, but at least she and her brother are safe.

Feelings: 
This is a good read. I enjoyed the language around tea and how it played into many parts of the book. I felt at times that the book was predictable, but sometimes that is preferable to everything falling apart and nothing turning out the way you hope it would. The book is at times heart-breaking and yet it also is beautiful. The descriptions vary by location from dull and dirty to full of color and texture. I would definitely recommend this book to others looking for a fast easy read. I will be looking into reading the others in the series and possibly more by the author.