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Book Review: The Winter Rose

The Winter Rose - Jennifer Donnelly

Book: The Winter Rose

 

Author: Jennifer Donnelly

 

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Romance

 

Summary: When India Selwyn Jones graduates from the London School of Medicine for Women in 1900, she is advised to set up her practice in a fashionable neighborhood. Instead, the idealistic India chooses to work in the East End, serving the poor. There, India meets Sid Malone, one of London’s most notorious gangsters. Before long, an unpredictable, passionate, and bittersweet affair ensues. -Hachette Books, 2008.

 

The Winter Rose is the sequel to The Tea Rose. It focuses on India Selwyn-Jones, a woman who becomes a doctor with dreams of opening a nonprofit clinic for women and children in Whitechapel. While her intentions are good, her ignorance of her patients' life conditons frequently clashes with her own beliefs. In the slums of East London, she meets Sid Malone, one of the top criminals in Whitechapel. Their meeting sets off sparks that not only affect their own lives, but the future of those around them.

 

Having had a lot of characterization issues with the first book in this trilogy, I went into this book with some caution. After finishing it, I found that, between the two, I prefer this one. India isn't a Mary Sue like Fiona and, while her views are challenged and she changes in response to her experiences, she suffers more misfortune than most characters. She's a relatively strong character and it wasn't as frustrating to read about her character as Fiona was.

 

The romance between her and Sid Malone (who is actually Fiona's brother, Charlie) is okay. It's not a major theme of the story as much as the growth the two go through individually. While there's no set process for people to fall in love, you'll find the attraction/pining stage to be a lot shorter than others you might have read.

 

Donnelly also ties Fiona and Joe as well as the youngest Finnegan, Seamie, into the plot. If you liked Fiona or wanted to know what would happen to Seamie, they have their own plot lines in the story, adding to its length. Seamie's story is the setup for the final book in the trilogy so be prepared for a cliffhanger with his plot line. I also could actually tolerate Fiona this time around because she's taken down a peg and actually has to suffer the consequences of her actions. Maybe Donnelly received enough criticism about her so she decided to make Fiona have flaws like the rest of her characters.

 

The villain of the novel seemed a little too edgy for me though; almost in a cartoonish way. He does despicable things and Donnelly tries to make him pitiable instead of straight out evil, but it doesn't really work. The moments made to make him look sympathetic don't really do much to give him credibility as a "realistic antagonist". I suppose it's all a matter of perspective.

 

Overall, it's an okay book. I think it's an improvement over the first one, but not by much. I'm not reading the third book - these two books have satisfied any lingering curiosity I might have had over this series. The research into the time period and setting is still a strong point; it's only the characters that fail to bring this series to a higher rating from me.

 

I give The Winter Rose a B-.

 

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