Product Description

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 fiance, 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. As she ventures 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9056 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Sally Zigmond, HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
'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 .... her best so far'

Review
"a heart-stopping tale of love and war during Queen Victoria's reign" (Reader WOMAN & HOME )

"Brilliant... if you like Jane Austen, you'll probably like this. It's beautifully written" (Amanda Ross )

"absorbing" (My Weekly )

'In her novel writen with great attention to detail and obvious affection for her characters and the time period, Katharine McMahon has penned a deeply affecting piece of historical fiction.' (HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW )

Sue Magee, THE BOOK BAG
'I was fully immersed in my reading and bitterly disappointed when it ended.'

Customer Reviews

Great War Writing, Cliched Characters
The historical aspects of The Rose of Sebastopol are excellent. The horror of trench warfare and the inadequacy of the battlefield hospitals are effectively portrayed and not for the squeamish. McMahon also conveys the pigheadness of the British male in the mid nineteenth century very well. The contempt with which women were held in Victorian England comes through strongly and the sections that deal with their attempts at emancipation are some of the best in the novel.

Sadly, the story doesn't live up to the richness of the background in which it's set. The characters are cliched, bland and two dimensional and although the action and plot do drive the reader towards the end, the denouement is predictable in almost every respect. In addition, at the end, the whole thing suddenly grinds to a halt in a most unsatisfactory manner.

On balance, The Rose of Sebastopol is a solid 3 star novel. The story although told well, won't deliver anything you haven't read before but the vivid depiction of the period and the affecting war scenes rescue this novel and render it a worthwhile read.

stunning
I have just finished this book and I wish I was picking it up for the first time. I was hooked from start to finish with this moving and compelling tale of self-discovery, friendship, love and war. The characters are involving, the English and battle landscapes tautly drawn and I found myself mourning the loss of reading this book for the first time.
In the beginning timid Mariella and her fiery cousin Rosa could not be more different in character even though the facial similarity between the two is often remarked upon. However, their respective journeys to and in the Crimea and their relationships with the other characters alter one of them in particular and following her journey of self-discovery is a very rewarding one.

Interesting historical novel
Admittedly it took me quite a while to get into the flow of the book, but once that happened i was engrossed. The Crimean war is a period of history that i really didnt know alot of, except for Florence Nightingale. The story is told by Mariella, a young women who has grown up in London, without actually seeing any of London. She has lead a very sheltered life, that is until her delightful cousin Rosa descends from the North and lives with Mariella and her family. I loved the contrast of stern and innocent Mariella and Rosa who just wants to help every individual that comes across her path. In the middle of this, is Henry Thewall, Mariella's fiancee who is a doctor and working in the Crimea. Rosa leaves London to nurse in the Crimea, her letters detailing the horror and expressing how she cant seem to do enough to help the soldiers. Suddenly the letters from Rosa stop and no more is heard from her, worried about her cousin and her fiancee, Mariella leaves London to search for them. I really enjoyed the book, once Mariella had left London, discovering how strong she actually is without the people she loves around her. And again, its an interesting period in British history that is rarely written about.