She gets what she wants, but Joe’s mistake destroys his and Fiona’s future together.Īfter some more devastating trials, Fiona flees the country for America and things finally start looking up. Millie then initiates her plan and leads him to her room to seduce him. During a company party, he gets a promotion and becomes drunk on alcohol and the prospect of easy living. Joe tries to be there for his girl, but he is busy living the high life in Covent Garden. Things are falling apart and Fiona’s only happiness comes from being with Joe and knowing that he makes much more at his new job and can put a lot towards their dream. Charlie fights for money and tries to take care of the family. With the huge loss of money, the family must move. Then Fiona’s father dies in a dock accident. She doesn’t want Joe to move from their neighborhood, but she understands that this will help them on their way to success and maybe even allow them to get married sooner. Fiona is upset and worried about the Petersons’ involvement. Her father, a very successful produce man, offers Joe a job, which he quickly accepts. Millie wants Joe and has never been denied anything.

But Millie Peterson, who once lived near them but has since moved up in the world, has plans of her own. Every week they both set aside a small part of their earnings to fund their dream and little by little they are getting closer. He returns the sentiment and the two dreamed of owning their own shop for ages. The organization of labor unions has just begun to be productive and Fiona’s father becomes the leader of the Wapping Tea Operatives, wanting to reduce labor hours and increase wages by a penny an hour.įiona doesn’t pay too much attention to all this, however, because she is deeply in love with her neighbor, Joe Bristow, and has been for her entire life. The year is 1888 and the area is Whitechapel, so a certain serial killer roams the streets, slashing and mutilating prostitutes and scaring all of London. The big family scrimps by week to week, but is ultimately happy. There is also a baby sister and four-year-old Seamie.

Her father is a dockworker for Burton Tea, she works as a tea-packer for the same company, her mother is a laundress, and her brother, Charlie, brings in anything he can. I want to encourage anyone who enjoys epic love stories to do the same.įiona Finnegan lives a simple, hard-working life with her family, but she dreams of much more. The sequel, The Winter Rose, is out now, so I decided to re-read the first in preparation for the second. After several days of smiling, laughing, and crying my way through the book, I was so glad for that whim, because the story immediately became a favorite. I’d never heard of the author, but the cover was beautiful and the summary sounded promising. I picked up The Tea Rose on a whim a couple of years ago.

The tea rose trilogy