The Winter Rose

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly is a historical novel set in early turn-of-the-twentieth-century London. Among its many characters are India Selwyn Jones, one of the first graduates of an all-female medical school, and Sid Malone, the leader of the most infamous street gang. The two cross paths . . . his life needs saving, both literally and metaphorically, of course . . . and they fall in love. But in between the tale of star-crossed lovers and a few bodice ripper scenes, this sweeping epic of a novel weaves a pretty good tale. Of the many side characters, there is an up-and-coming politician and his wife, India's dastardly fiance who has political ambitions of his own, a couple of adventurous teens who lead us into the world of early mountain climbing, and India's plucky nurse sidekick.

Like Emma Brown, this book gets a little preachy in its modern day stance on social conditions of the time. India's great dream is to open a free clinic in Whitechapel, a working class neighborhood of London. She defies the doctor she works for by supplying women with contraceptives and actually providing sanitary conditions for her patients. A number of political issues, including women's suffrage, are touched on via the politicians. But mostly this is a love story. It's the kind of book you reach for on a rainy day when you don't want to leave the house--fully engaging and one you can't put down. Not the brainiest of novels, but meaty enough that you don't have to be embarrassed. It lost me a little at the end when the action moves to Africa--due to the kind of coincidences generally found only in nineteenth century novels, several of our characters end up on the continent independently only to cross paths later. But I found myself hoping for a happy ending so much I could overlook this.

I picked this up as a galley because I knew Donnelly from her young adult novel A Northern Light, which is loosely based on An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. It's about a murder on a lake . . . the details are fuzzy, but it was also a great read. Only 9 books left on the list! Single digits!!