I’m excited to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for captivating historical fiction novel The Rose Garden by Tracy Rees. Thank you to Anne Cater and Pan Macmillan for giving me the opportunity to read and review this mesmerising and beautifully written book.
About the book:
Spellbinding historical fiction from the bestselling author of Amy Snow, spanning the luxury and poverty of Victorian England.
1895. Hampstead, London.
Olive Westallen lives a privileged, if rather lonely, life in her family’s grand Hampstead home. But she has radical plans for the future of her family – plans that will shock the high-society world she inhabits.
For her new neighbour, twelve-year-old Ottilie Finch, London is an exciting playground to explore. Her family have recently arrived from Durham, under a cloud of scandal that Otty is blissfully unaware of. The only shadow over her days is her mother’s mysterious illness, which keeps her to her room.
When Mabs is offered the chance to become Mrs Finch’s companion, it saves her from a desperate life on the canals. Little does she know that all is not as picture-perfect as it seems. Mabs is about to become tangled in the secrets that chased the Finches from their last home, and trapped in an impossible dilemma . . .
About the author:
Tracy Rees was the first winner of the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition.
She has also won the Love Stories Best Historical Read award and been shortlisted for the RNA Epic Romantic Novel of the Year.
A Cambridge graduate, Tracy had a successful career in non-fiction publishing before retraining for a second career practising and teaching humanistic counselling.
She has also been a waitress, bartender, shop assistant, estate agent, classroom assistant and workshop leader.
Tracy divides her time between the Gower Peninsula of South Wales and London.
My Review:
The Rose Garden is the mesmerising new historical novel by best selling author Tracy Rees. Beginning in 1895 in Hampstead and spanning the luxury and poverty of Victorian London, this is a richly detailed book that captured my imagination from the very first page. With strong, determined female characters and a complex, multilayered plot, Tracy Rees has created an atmospheric and moving tale that I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end.
Olive Westallen lives a privileged but lonely life in her family’s large Hampstead home. But Olive has plans. Plans that will send shockwaves through the high society world she lives in…
And then there is twelve year old Ottilie Finch, recently arrived from Durham and new neighbour to Olive. For Otty, London is an exciting adventure playground, marred only by her mother’s secret illness that keeps her confined to her room.
And finally we have Mabs, a local girl desperate for work, who is the newly employed companion to Mrs Finch. But little does she know that not everything is as perfect as it seems and that she is about to become caught up in the secrets and lies that chased the Finches away from their previous home…
The Rose Garden is a beautifully written story of female empowerment and friendship. Tracy Rees breathes life into these characters, creating a real sense of time and place as you become completely immersed in their stories, desperate for them to overcome the stumbling blocks that Victorian society puts in their way. Steeped in history, The Rose Garden is one of those books that once started you do not want to put down, the story moving along at a steady pace, with plenty of shocks and surprises along the way that keep you riveted to the page.
Tracy Rees has written a multilayered story with strong female characters who are determined to overcome the limitations imposed on them by the era in which they live. Rich with historical detail, The Rose Garden is a captivating novel that held me in its thrall throughout. Beautiful and moving, with characters that stay with you long after the final page has been turned, this is a book that I would highly recommend.
I loved it!
The Rose Garden by Tracy Rees is available to purchase now:
Check out what these other lovely bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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