The Tea Rose

By: Jennifer Donnelly

Narrated by: Jill Tanner

Length: 28 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

East London, 1888 - a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams. But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything - and everyone - she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

©2002 Jennifer Donnelly (P)2014 Recorded Books

Whew!!

I selected this audio book on a whim. Although the book is rather long (85 chapters), it is well worth the credit! The book is part mystery, drama and love story. The book kept me listening well into the night.

Favorite!

This is my favorite book of all time! I’ve read it about 3 times and this was my first time listening. Just as good as I remember!

I loved this book!

A wonderful book about history, family, love, grief, revenge and of all things - Jack the Ripper. This is a very complex story with many plot twists. Two of the twists totally blindsided me and made the book even better. Great characters and character development. I see it is a "romance" genre book but I think it will appeal to other readers, like myself, that prefer historical fiction, mysteries and sagas.

Wonderful!!

I loved this story! Everything from the plot twists to the performance!! Kudos! Looking forward to the second book

Great story and characters

Loved this book with all the rich characters and intricate details. About to listen to the second one in the series again! I had listened out of order before realizing it was a trilogy...looking forward to listening again and then move on to the third!

Great from beginning to end

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. The writer held my attention through all the twists & turns.

So very good!

I loved this book! Lots of suspense, realistic and often funny dialogue, a drawn out love story, and a strong female character - all with the historical fiction background. What more could you want?!

The Tea Rose

Any additional comments?

I have never read Jennifer Donnelly before. This was picked for a book club I belong to and I was sure glad it was. This is a fantastic story and kept me hooked right up to the end. I dont usually go for books set in the late 1800s - I tend to like more modern books, so this was a nice surprise for me.

What a saga!

4.5 stars. This story has been well reviewed so I wiil just add, as a personal note, that it touched every emotion. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe too harsh but, 1/2 star off for some completely unbelievable time frames.
Wonderful narrator!

Hang in There, Don't Let Slow Start Fool You

When I first started this book, I found it very slow and kept wondering if it were worthwhile to hang in there. I'm so glad I did. It was well worth it.

The story begins in the late 1800's in London where we meet the family Fiona, her two brothers and her father and mother. Fiona works at a tea warehouse making tea pouches, her father and brother work the docks off loading tea shipments. Dad becomes involved in trying to organize dock workers while Fiona feels she has enough troubles just trying to keep up with her job. Then her father has a terrible accident and over a small period of time and excruciating pain, dies. Her eldest brother goes into hiding. Fiona has met and fallen in love with Joe. Each week they meet and bring what little savings they've managed to put away for the day when they finally have enough to start a shop and get married. Then Joe greatly disappoints Fiona, leaving anger, loneliness and sadness.

But after the death of her father, Fiona's mother is soon murdered and she is now left to care for her youngest brother. Desperate for money, she goes to the owners of the tea warehouse and begs for money owed because of her father's injuries while working at the warehouse. She overhears a conversation about her father's "accident" having been planned due to his union involvement; she confronts the owner, is denied any money for her father's accident, grabs money sitting on the table and runs. Knowing she now will be found sooner or later, she takes her brother to board a ship to America, but she has no ticket and is told she will have to wait weeks for a reservation. Desperate, she accepts the kind offer of a person who is already booked on the ship and she and her brother make it to America.

In America Fiona works day and night to eke our survival for herself, her young brother and her uncle who is a drunk. We see the will power and strength in a woman determined to meet her obligations and eventually extract revenge from those complicit in her father's death. When she finally returns to London she soon finds herself in extreme danger.

The book is well written, though there are parts where you get to a climax and the story switches to a different part leaving you wondering if your questions will be answer. Eventually, they are. I'm sure this is a technique to keep the reader in suspense, but for impatient people like me, it can be a bit frustrating - my fault, not the author's.

Over all, while not extremely suspenseful, it's a wonderful story of resilience in the fact of tragedy and a hard life. I recommend this book.