The Rose of Sebastopol
Russia, 1854: the Crimean War grinds on, and as the bitter winter draws near, the battlefield hospitals fill with dying men. In defiance of Florence Nightingale, Rosa Barr - young, headstrong and beautiful - travels to Balaklava, determined to save as many of the wounded as she can.
For Mariella Lingwood, Rosa's cousin, the war is contained within the pages of her scrapbook, in her London sewing circle, and in the letters she receives from Henry, her fiancé, a celebrated surgeon who has also volunteered to work within the shadow of the guns.
When Henry falls ill and is sent to recuperate in Italy, Mariella impulsively decides she must go to him. But upon their arrival at his lodgings, she and her maid make a heartbreaking discovery: Rosa has disappeared.
Following the trail of her elusive and captivating cousin, Mariella's epic journey takes her from the domestic restraint of Victorian London to the ravaged landscape of the Crimea and the tragic city of Sebastopol, where she encounters Rosa's dashing stepbrother, a reckless cavalry officer whose complex past - and future - is inextricably bound up with her own.
As her quest leads her deeper into the dark heart of the conflict, Mariella's ordered world begins to crumble and she finds she has much to learn about secrecy, faithfulness and love. But, in the thick of a war fought on more fronts than one, she also discovers a strength and passion she never knew she possessed.
For Mariella Lingwood, Rosa's cousin, the war is contained within the pages of her scrapbook, in her London sewing circle, and in the letters she receives from Henry, her fiancé, a celebrated surgeon who has also volunteered to work within the shadow of the guns.
When Henry falls ill and is sent to recuperate in Italy, Mariella impulsively decides she must go to him. But upon their arrival at his lodgings, she and her maid make a heartbreaking discovery: Rosa has disappeared.
Following the trail of her elusive and captivating cousin, Mariella's epic journey takes her from the domestic restraint of Victorian London to the ravaged landscape of the Crimea and the tragic city of Sebastopol, where she encounters Rosa's dashing stepbrother, a reckless cavalry officer whose complex past - and future - is inextricably bound up with her own.
As her quest leads her deeper into the dark heart of the conflict, Mariella's ordered world begins to crumble and she finds she has much to learn about secrecy, faithfulness and love. But, in the thick of a war fought on more fronts than one, she also discovers a strength and passion she never knew she possessed.
Published: February 2006
ISBN:9780297850922
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
ISBN:9780297850922
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
‘This is everything a good historical romance should be.’
‘I was fully immersed in my reading and bitterly disappointed when it ended.’
I loved everything about this book. With a cracking plot, wide in scope and yet exquisitely detailed, it conveys the world of England in the 1850s—domestic life, medicine, industry and charity—with a confident brush. McMahon also cleverly evokes the gulf between middle-class life in England and its perception of the situation which is at total odds with the reality. She also subtly draws out the similarities between the Crimean War and what is happening in Iraq now without any sense of the didactic. Her portrayal of Rosa and Mariella is particularly fine, as is they way they, and our perceptions of them, deepen and evolve as the novel progresses. I have enjoyed reading all Katherine McMahon’s historical novels but this, to me, is her best so far. I thoroughly recommend it.
McMahon is developing into a perceptive writer with a mind and imagination well attuned to the vagaries and compelxities of lives lived in extraordinary times and under intense duress. Using Elizbeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman doctor,and John Keat's letters to his fiancee Fanny Brawne as her inspiration, this is a captivating and soul-searching novel in a class far above the norm in romantic fiction.
...and Katherine McMahon, whose The Rose of Sebastopol combines high romance with the horrors of the Crimean war; a heady mix bound to appeal to readers who enjoy the Club's traditional focus on historical fiction.
LANCASHIRE EVENING POST
THE BOOK BAG
THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE
GUARDIAN UNLIMITED
SALLY ZIGMOND
'I was fully immersed in my reading and bitterly disappointed when it ended.' The Book Bag
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<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Welcome to the official website of Katharine McMahon, author of The Rose of Sebastopol (chosen for Richard and Judy's Book Club 2008), The Crimson Rooms and The Alchemist's Daughter.">
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