The Wild Rose

Jennifer Donnelly saved the best for last, and that's high praise coming from someone who LOVED the Tea Rose and has read it as many times as I have. But this book...this is extraordinary storytelling, with truly heart-pounding suspense and so many moving, heartfelt scenes that had my eyes welling with tears even as I read faster and faster to see what would happen next. Meticulously researched (I learned more about World War I here than I did in all my history classes combined), this is just a phenomenal book. I love these characters as if they were real people, and I loved the way the Tea Rose saga was brought to its conclusion. Great writing, totally engrossing storytelling - you won't be able to put this one down!

This book is the last book of three. Jennifer Donnelly is an exceptional writer. I have thoroughly enjoyed this captivating trilogy.

The third book in the Tea Trilogy is set prior to the Great War and goes between London and the Himalayas, where Willa has been busy as a photographer after her estrangement from Seamus and her tragic accident. Seamus has become a polar explorer, and has just returned to London. He is deciding between going off on another expedition or taking a job in London. Unexpectedly, he finds himself falling in love with another woman and possibly the dream of a more ordinary life. However, both Willa and the war will play havoc with those dreams. The book is sweeping in scope, covering the pre, war, and post-war period with a good amount of historical detail. Lawrence of Arabia plays a cameo role in the storyline, and the role of suffragettes is important to the story as well. There are some appearances by the key characters in the 1st and second books, particularly Fiona and Joe, as well as India and Sid. The book contains a great deal of adventure and the question of a German double agent will leave you guessing for a time. This was a dramatic conclusion to the series.

Donnelly's "Rose" books had a long wait time in between publishing them. But, just a quick glance at the bibliography at the end of her last will give you a clue about the amazing amount of research that went into these books--and it was all worth it. The Wild Rose, like its predecessors, is a sweeping, epic drama that tells the story of its two main characters (Seamie Finnegan, the youngest Finnegan sibling, and Willa Alden) but also gives a rich and colorful look at the time in which it is set. It is so much more than just the story of those two people, so much more than just a family saga. The Wild Rose encompasses the years 1913-1919 and takes place on three continents--Europe, Asia, and Africa. We witness the struggle for women's suffrage as it rages in London, observe MPs in the House of Commons struggle between funding programs for British working class citizens or building up their Navy, and we see behind the scenes as a spy network flourishes behind the scenes, ferreting information between London and Berlin. We witness the devestation of war not on the front, but with the families of men who don't come home--as well as those who do. Donnelly did an amazing job with this one. For those of us who haven't read The Winter Rose since its publication, she does do an excellent job of reminding us of the whos and whats we need to recall to make sense of the plot of this one, but if you haven't read the first two books in the series yet I strongly recommend doing so before tackling this one. You won't be sorry you did.

I have been waiting literally years for "the Wild Rose" to be published. Ever since I first read "The Tea Rose" (which was originally written to be a standalone novel) and learned about the planned trilogy I was over the moon. It's just how good these books are.Things went downhill drastically for the Finnegan family when their father was murdered for trying to organize a dock workers union and their mother was killed by Jack the ripper. Three children survived, Fiona, Charlie, and Seamus. Fiona, in "The Tea Rose" battles star crossed love and immense poverty to become the head of a tea company in America. In "the Winter Rose" Charlie, who turned into a London crime boss after his mother's death, falls in love with a lady doctor but can't seem to shake his past. And Seamus is raised by Fiona and her gay husband/ best friend in America, running wild and exploring everything he can."The Wild Rose" is Seamus (Seamie as he is called) turn to narrate and picks up several years after the mountain climbing disaster at the end of "The Winter Rose" that cost Seamie's love Willa her leg, and Seamie her trust and his chance to be with her. To try to keep the pain away Seamie becomes a world class explorer. But many years apart, and with World War 1 looming on the horizon there's a chance these two heavily damaged lovers will never see each other again before it's too late.There's no disputing the fact that this trilogy is essentially one really long, fantastically written soap opera. This is not a criticism, just an observation that more bad, amazing and historically important things happen to this family than any other. It's just how these books work- heartbreak after heartbreak, danger followed by more danger. But it all keeps for dissolving into a clichéd mush because of how good the characters are- how much personality they have. The level of description in this novel is also just astounding- every little smell, leaf and emotion is noted. And the epic romance's flowing through these books makes them impossible to put down- even if you aren't a fan of romance traditionally.This wrap up to the series is an amazing book, every bit as good as the two that came before it. Jennifer Donnelly is an incredibly skilled writer who obviously has the imagination to not only picture every scene in the novel as though it were part of a movie, but also pass that on to her reading audience.Five stars for "the Wild Rose", Five stars for the series as a whole. And I'll be whishing, hoping and praying until Donnelly's next adult novel comes out.