The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Title: The Winter RoseAuthor: Jennifer DonnellyPages: 706Cover: HardbackISBN: 0007191324Series: Second book in the Tea Rose series.Plot: India Selwyn Jones is a newly qualified Doctor living in 1900 London. A girl from well-to-do roots, and engaged to political high-flier Freddie Lytton, India's dream is to set-up a clinic for women and children for the city's poor. Sid Malone is involved in practically everything that India despises: crime, drugs, prostitution. But India can't help falling in love with him.Two reasons to read "The Winter Rose"Realism: Having read some of Jennifer Donnelly's other work, in the past, and having interviewed her for my University dissertation, I know very well how much hard work Donnelly puts into the research for her novels. Not because she has to, but because she enjoys it. And that research really does show through the sheer amount of detail that Donnelly goes into with setting, imagery and the overall feel of life in early 1900s London. Her writing is so realistic that it's hard not to feel like you are a part of that world.Characterisation: Sometimes novels that require a large about of characters tend to get somewhat crowded and overwhelming, to the extent that some characters you just don't care about. But, Donnelly gets this completely right. All of her characters are believable, and most importantly human, as she allows you to delve into their individual psyche and figure out their motives and wants. Of course there are always characters that are favoured over others when reading, but it's hard not to.Two reasons not to read "The Winters Rose"Unrealistic: Everyone in the story is connected, that's nothing unusual for a novel, because there's no point if characters don't have a connection of some sort to each other. However, the meetings of characters that are connected without knowing they are connected, seem too coincidental for my liking. I know that the political world of London probably is a small place, but it's the non-politcal coincidental meetings that baffle a little. And how on earth everyone ends up in Africa, at the exact same time, seems too unbelievable for me.Length: At 706 pages, this is definitely not a quick read, or for those with short attention spans. Not unsurprisingly, there are times when the book drags a bit, and it becomes easy to skip chapters, especially when they are short. Fortunately, it's not a particularly heavy book, but you do have to be interested in the characters and settings, otherwise you really have no hope of plodding through it.Further InformationDo you need to have read the first book to enjoy this one? I hadn't read the first book, and I definitely don't think you need to, because I got the impression that a lot of the back story explained for certain characters was comprised from the first book.Are any of the characters real? Donnelly has a reputation for basing her stories around real people, although the story tends to use them as "side" characters, rather than main ones, and "The Winter Rose" is no exception. Some of the politicians mentioned, and featured were real including Asquith, Gladstone, even Winston Churchill gets a brief mention. A couple of Queen Victoria's children get a mention, and the infamous suffragette Mrs Pankhurst also features.