Blackberry and Wild Rose: A moving and immersive summer holiday read
Rich historical debut set in the secretive world of Huguenot silk weavers, for fans of The Binding and The Familiars ‘Sumptuous and moving. Velton weaves her tale with the threads of betrayal, thwarted dreams and good intentions gone awry’ Laura Purcell ‘A richly imagined and brilliantly twisty tale’ Anna Mazzola ‘A plot as finely detailed
Rich historical debut set in the secretive world of Huguenot silk weavers, for fans of The Binding and The Familiars
‘Sumptuous and moving. Velton weaves her tale with the threads of betrayal, thwarted dreams and good intentions gone awry’ Laura Purcell
‘A richly imagined and brilliantly twisty tale’ Anna Mazzola
‘A plot as finely detailed as Spitalfields silk’ Stacey Halls
WHEN ESTHER THOREL, the wife of a Huguenot silk-weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel she thinks she is doing God’s will. Sara is not convinced being a maid is better than being a whore, but the chance to escape her grasping ‘madam’ is too good to refuse.
INSIDE THE THORELS’ tall house in Spitalfields, where the strange cadence of the looms fills the attic, the two women forge an uneasy relationship. The physical intimacies of washing and dressing belie the reality: Sara despises her mistress’s blindness to the hypocrisy of her household, while Esther is too wrapped up in her own secrets to see Sara as anything more than another charitable cause.
IT IS SILK that has Esther so distracted. For years she has painted her own designs, dreaming that one day her husband will weave them into reality. When he laughs at her ambition, she unwittingly sets in motion events that will change the fate of the whole Thorel household and set the scene for a devastating day of reckoning between her and Sara.
THE PRICE OF a piece of silk may prove more than either is able to pay.
Bestsellers 2021
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Really quite underwhelming I was really drawn to this beautiful cover and the fact that it had had so many positive reviews, some calling for fans of Sarah Waters which had me clicking that purchase button in an instant. However, although an easy read (read it over the weekend), I was left feeling really underwhelmed. Neither main characters were particularly compelling, I didnât feel drawn to them at all. There was no clear reason why Sara fell for the man she did, nor why she acted so maliciously by telling Elias about…
Great read! As a history nerd, historical accuracy is a big thing for me. It was wonderful to experience the research that the author, Sonia, must have put in to build a world so rich and realistic. I loved learning more about Spitalfields and the weaving of silk there along with all involved in the industry.Blackberry and Wild Rose has the POV’s of two strong-willed women in a world where women had little rights. As madam and maid, Esther and Sara both contrast and mirror each other in many…
Heart wrenching. This story captured me on page one, the detailed characters made this a delight to read. It shows a very unlikely tale of friendship, lies, regret, pain and sorrow amongst much more.This story shows the real struggles of being not only a woman with no rights, but also of men who are desperate to become something.This is a haunting book, I can’t recommend it enough.