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Overview
“Enjoy the ride: 600-plus pages of romance, harrowing exploits, cinematic backdrops, cliff-hangers, and plot twists.” —Publishers Weekly It is London, 1914. World War I looms on the horizon, women are fighting for the right to vote, and explorers are pushing the limits of endurance in the most forbidding corners of the earth. Into this volatile time, Jennifer Donnelly places her vivid and memorable characters, continuing the story of the Finnegan family. With fabulous period detail, myriad twists and turns, and thrilling cliff-hangers, The Wild Rose is the highly satisfying conclusion to an unforgettable trilogy that began with The Tea Rose and continued with The Winter Rose—and an utterly captivating read in its own right.Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
A pair of lovers converges, then parts, then repeats the abrupt cycle in this new novel by Jennifer Donnelly (Revolution; A Northern Light; The Tea Rose). In the early years of the 20th century, Seamus Finnegan and Willa Alden both pursue lives of intense danger, but their mutual attraction survives numerous disasters, misunderstandings, and separations. With its exotic settings, arresting historical undercurrents, and soulful romantic plot, The Wild Rose ranks with Donnelly's best.
Booklist
"Mix Gangs of New York, Romeo and Juliet, and Oliver Twist, and get a passionate tale propelled by sophisticated plotting, cleverly disguised motives, and intriguingly entangled characters."
Romantic Times Book Review
"A lush story of epic proportions . . . Donnelly peoples her book with larger-than-life characters whose tragedies and triumphs lift your heart and soul."Washington Post Book World
"If Jennifer Donnelly doesn't watch out, she's going to get a reputation. With the publication of The Winter Rose, she proves that her first fast, fat and fun historical novel—The Tea Rose— wasn't a fluke. She's a master of pacing and plot, with enough high points scattered throughout to keep your pulse racing . . . I read the last third at near-choking speed . . . I imagine you will, too."Library Journal
As in Donnelly's The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose, a pair of lovers must survive misunderstandings, betrayals, physical dangers, and emotional upheavals before they find happiness. After a climbing mishap on Kilimanjaro, Seamus Finnegan manages to save Willa Alden's life, but she loses one of her legs. Embittered and despairing, Willa seeks refuge in Tibet, while Seamus gains fame through polar expeditions. When the novel opens eight years later, in 1914, Europe is poised on the brink of war. Amid social and political ferment, Seamus marries Jennie Wilcott, pregnant with his child. Willa's return for her father's funeral results in a passionate affair that ends abruptly when Willa's brother confronts her. By 1918, Willa is using her photography skills in Arabia to support Tom (T.E.) Lawrence's spy network, while Seamus commands a navy ship in the Mediterranean. Their paths converge at several points as they survive disasters such as a plane crash, a submarine attack, imprisonment, and torture. Familiar characters from the earlier novels also reappear. VERDICT Donnelly skillfully integrates historical detail while entwining multiple plotlines in a fast-paced narrative. Readers of the earlier books will be especially eager for this volume, which should also earn the author new fans.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., MankatoKirkus Reviews
Want to end the war to end all wars? Put a mountaineer—and a woman mountaineer—to the task.
Willa Alden isn't just any mountaineer, at least not by genre novelist Donnelly's account. In a thick, overly long narrative peopled by a few returnees fromThe Winter Rose (2008, etc.), Willa is a standout, admirable in her many strengths. But then, just about everyone in this story is strong in his or her own métier, from Winston Churchill to charm-the-pants-off-anyone Kaiserian spy Max von Brandt. Heck, even the Dalai Lama is a brick—and a pal of Willa's, natch, who "on occasion...would drink with her, sing Tibetan songs with her, and swap bawdy stories." But all these are wimps next to Willa's true amour, Seamus Finnegan, fearless polar explorer and breathless lover, who has gotten himself into countless scrapes with her and left her wanting only once, and then by way of something in a limb. (You'll have to read the book for the details.) "You're a very dashing figure, you know," says one admirer of Seamie's. "You've achieved so much, done so many amazing things." Seamie knows, yet the one thing he wants eludes him. Meanwhile, old Max is up to no good, for these, after all, are the stirring years of World War I, and his job is to embarrass smarty-pants Britons and exalt Teutons everywhere. By the end of this endless exercise in historical fiction, one that gets all the details right except the way people spoke to each other a century ago, Max, Seamie and Willa have been replaying the Perils of Pauline in the company of Lawrence of Arabia, a perplexing and improbable turn of events that at least moves the plot along. Thank goodness Willa has picked up conversational Arabic and Turkish along the way. "Jamal Pasha is coming! Jamal Pasha is coming!"
But is Max that much a rotter, and Seamie that much a hero? Read this aspirational potboiler and find out. Or not.