India and Sid must each make a terrible sacrifice–a sacrifice that will change them both forever. Mistakenly thinking him dead, India, pregnant and desperate, marries Freddie to provide a father for hers and Sid’s child.

When Sid is finally betrayed by one of his own, he must flee London to save his life. Fractious criminal underlings and rivals conspire against Sid. Lytton, India’s fiancé, will stop at nothing to marry India and gain her family’s fortune. Their love is impossible and they know it, yet they cling to it desperately.

Different in nearly every way, they share one thing in common–they’re both wounded souls. But against all odds, India and Sid fall in love. India is not good for business and at first, Malone wants her out. Her selfless activities better her patients’ lives and bring her immense gratification, but unfortunately, they also bring her into direct conflict with East London’s ruling crime lord–Sid Malone. With the help of her influential fiancé–Freddie Lytton, an up-and-coming Liberal MP–she works to shut down the area’s opium dens that destroy both body and soul. Among the reformers is an idealistic young woman named India Selwyn-Jones, recently graduated from medical school. And yet, in the summer of 1900, East London is still poor, still brutal, still a shadow city to its western twin. I can not recommend this book highly enough to all readers and am eagerly awaiting the third installment hopefully coming out in the next year or two.It has been twelve years since a dark, murderous figure stalked the alleys and courts of Whitechapel. Donnelly is a master story-teller so the plot seemlessly moves forward in unpredictable yet completely satisfying ways. The streets of London literally come to life in both novels and I certainly felt like I could see, hear, touch, taste and smell their every square inch and hidden passages. In particular, I am eternlly thankful to the author for having written such strong female characters: Fiona Finnegan and India Selwyn Jones are such remarkable, intriguing and multifaceted characters, and certainly as interesting as their male counterparts. The characters are so lifelike and well-developed, you can't help but feel like you understand their motives and feelings and actually know them.

Jennifer Donnelly has quickly become one of my all-time favorite authors with these two epic sagas set in London in the late 1800's and early 1900's. However, 'The Winter Rose' not only exceeded my expectations in every way, but I liked it even more than 'The Tea Rose' - if that's possible. I usually lower my expectations when reading a sequel, especially when it comes to a book where I LOVED the original. In every way as wonderful as 'The Tea Rose'.

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly