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The Tea Rose cover art

The Tea Rose

Written by: Jennifer Donnelly
Narrated by: Jill Tanner
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Publisher's Summary

East London, 1888 - a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams. But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything - and everyone - she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

©2002 Jennifer Donnelly (P)2014 Recorded Books

What listeners say about The Tea Rose

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Terrific

Fabulous narration. A great story, not just your everyday romance. The characters were well developed and I was sorry to say goodbye.

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19 people found this helpful

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loved it!!

awesome narrator, flew through the book even though it was 28 hours! will definitely look for more books read by her, and the story was a good combination of romance and mystery

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

The Tea Rose

SO. MANY. WORDS.
So many unnecessary words, so many setups that don't come to fruition, so much extraneous story-telling.
I spent a lot of time eyerolling.
Meh, at best,
But I did finish it.

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a voyage in time and of the heart

Jill Tanner captures the characters of the Tea Rose and makes them her own. A terrific period story, compelling and fun, full of adventure. The Tea Rose will surely become a series for TV, perfectly balanced to keep one wanting more.

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9 people found this helpful

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An Unexpected Treasure!!

I had never heard of this author before. But when it was offered as a free download, I thought I'd give it a go. I'm so glad I did! It's a story of love and tragedy, ambition, revenge and so much more. If you love a good British period piece, this one is for you! The characters have become beloved to me! The narrator does a fantastic job as well! I can't wait to listen to the next in the series!

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8 people found this helpful

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So many twists and turns! Amazing Story

Very impressed with the story that has weaved some very interesting/historical facts. The narration was amazing. It kept me motivated and many time on the edge of my seat. Long story that wraps up very nicely. So impressed that I am now reading The Winter Rose. New story line that carries over many characters from this book! Great author.

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8 people found this helpful

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Wow

What a great book! an amazing performance! So great that I bought the other two books in the series!

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7 people found this helpful

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Wonderful novel!

An intriguing story, never a dull moment. Despite the myriad of characters, Jill Tanner's narration was exceptional. I couldn't wait to get back to it in the evenings.

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7 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good story

I liked the story and it’s characters. Not crazy about the narrator but her accents are amazing! Slow in parts but I fell in love with the characters. Overall good.

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6 people found this helpful

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Yes Rose

I enjoyed listening to this story. The many events that occurred throughout the story were exciting and intriguing. I knew what the outcome would be early on but so many events kept me wondering if it would really happen. This story is highly entertaining and recommended.

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  • I like to shop
  • 2016-04-26

Wow. Wow wow wow!

What did you love best about The Tea Rose?

The book was well written and well read. I knew nothing about it and took a risk getting it. I'm always a little scared when spending my credits, though with the guarantee its now a much more comfortable feeling and less risk. I hated taking a chance of getting stuck with a book I didnt like!! This book far exceeded my expectations,

What about Jill Tanner’s performance did you like?

This is my first Jill Tanner book, and I have to admit that at first I was instantly in dislike. Her voice is a bit rough, kind of like a smoker maybe, and thus far I've listened to very smooth voices. As story went in, however, I became accustomed to, and appreciative of her. She did great voice changes and it was easy to follow who was who. Her voice is in just the right range where the inflections genuinely vary between a natural sounding mans voice or a natural sounding womans voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was surprised at how much I was able to "feel" in this book. I actually cried a few times, both happy and sad cries. It was easy to be excited, happy, scared, anger, as well as a myriad of other emotions. I was really surprised by that. Every time I cried I was like "Seriously!?". The storyline with Nicholas was really touching in so many ways. I loved his character, I loved his and Fionas relationship, and I loved... Well I cant say anything else without it being a spoiler.

Any additional comments?

This book is different than those that I frequent in that instead of the characters being rich London Ton, they were the very poor in the bowels of the city. Getting used to a new narrator and a new kind of story was challenging at first, but only for a few chapters. Loved this book SO much and am now currently listening to the second one in the series, The Winter Rose. (Alternating between Into The Wilderness series and this one so as to make them both last)
In some of the reviews I read, people complained about the Jack the Ripper storyline. I had no issue with it and thought it added to the character.

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40 people found this helpful

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  • Lee Crowe
  • 2018-02-05

So, this is basically a soap opera

If you’re looking for a step below good literature, but a step above pure trash- this one is a winner. The characters have zero depth- zero. And insanely unrealistic and laughable life experiences. And yet... it’s a fun easy listen. This one won’t change your life, or even help you check off a word from your GRE vocab list, but it would certainly improve a long distance flight or ease the monotony of being bed ridden (I caught a nasty cold- this book was perfect! I could fade in and out of my NyQuil induced sleep and pick right back up- it’s so predictable, you never miss a beat). So listen away! Oh- and there were some complaints about the narrator, she didn’t bother me at all!

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36 people found this helpful

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  • Nancy
  • 2014-04-15

I LOVED THIS BOOK

This was my first Jennifer Donnelly book and I absolutely loved everything about this book. The story was so gripping (I couldn't stop listening to it.) and the narrator was GREAT. Well worth a credit!!!

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  • Stitch and Listen
  • 2014-05-27

The Tea Rose

If you could sum up The Tea Rose in three words, what would they be?

Lovely mental vacation.

What about Jill Tanner’s performance did you like?

Jill Tanner's did an outstanding job with the narration. Her range in characters was done nicely.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

At 28 hours one sitting would be difficult, but yes the ear buds were in my ears more often than not.

Any additional comments?

I have read this trilogy 3 times and listened to The Tea Rose and The Wild Rose twice. Jennifer Donnelly draws you into 1890 London and it's hard to come back to reality. Beautiful story, the characters are alive, the details are vivid without being boring. I even went so far as to print out a 1900 London & New York maps to move around with the story.

The Winter Rose is book 2, it is not out in audio yet, why they started with book 3 then moved to book one is a mystery to me. These books need to be read in order, character developement is created in each book that brings you to the next.

PLEASE HURRY with the release of book 2. How can a new reader understand the story without the middle!

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17 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • nursebettyknitting
  • 2014-06-09

Drawn out and unbelievable

Mediocre bodice ripper/crime novel with great narration by Jill Tanner. After this, I am not interested in other books by Jennifer Donnelly.

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15 people found this helpful

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  • Leslie
  • 2014-04-14

Please complete the trilogy with "THE WINTER ROSE"

Where does The Tea Rose rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

IT IS IN THE TOP TEN !

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Tea Rose?

THE EXCITING FINALE THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE WAREHOUSE AT THE END.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Historical romance at it's best !

Any additional comments?

Please, release the final book of the rose triology, "The Winter Rose" which has already been produced by Recorded Books !!!!!!!!!!!

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  • Allison
  • 2014-07-06

Fine

Would you try another book from Jennifer Donnelly and/or Jill Tanner?

Possibly Jennifer Donnelly. The story had many good points, but narration was distracting & shone a glaring light on various plot flaws.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The many near misses/coincidences were amateurishly handled & just frustrating.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Ugh. The narrator acted the story well, but kept losing her voice and/or accent throughout. In the end almost everyone sounded like a middle aged barmaid, especially the 17-19 MC.

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12 people found this helpful

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  • laurie eller
  • 2015-07-04

such a great listen!

no one told me about this book. i was simply reading through titles and seeing "who also bought" from other books and stumbled upon this gem.

i love long books so that didn't scare me away (favorite book, The Pillars of the Earth) and decided to give it a chance. especially loved the historical fiction side to it, beginning around jack-the-ripper time in london...

anyway, i won't give much away other than to say this book has a lot of The Count of Monte Cristo to it. a lot of the same feelings, etc.

this is a series of three books so read them in order, that's important. i suppose you could read them separately but it will make the story line easier if read in order. :)

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11 people found this helpful

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  • fluegge
  • 2015-03-09

So Glad I stumbled onto this one

I won't get another book until I have read all of Jennifer Donnelly's books. I have been a member for at least 12 years with about a thousand books on 3 accounts and this is the best yet.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Caroline D. Hayes
  • 2015-05-23

Too much.., too long..., too dramatic

Too much.., too long..., too dramatic. By no means am I saying I did not enjoy this piece, it just had too much of the dependency on tortured lovers to achieve any fulfillment in the life pursuit of the main characters. I do not do well with this type of piece. Some of the antagonist aspects were also a bit hard to believe and digest, in my a mature opinion. Makes for good entertainment just not of my personal preference. And, a better job should be done in finding narrators who fit the age description of the main character. Our heroine started out at the age of 17 and sounded 60. Not good, at all. I think this influenced my mindset about this book, GREATLY.

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9 people found this helpful