Stunning
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This is one of the best books I have read for a long time - my only complaint being that I was so absorbed by the story that I had to read it at breakneck speed to find out what happened in the end!
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A rose amongst the thorns of war
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If you only read one historical novel this year, then make it The Rose of Sebastopol. Set during the Crimean War (1854/55) it is a first person narrative by Mariella Lingwood, an obedient daughter who spends her life sewing and writing letters to her fiance, Henry, a young surgeon caught up in the war. Events draw Mariella inexorably towards that war and what she finds there is both devastating on a grand and also on a personal level. I had heard of the battles - the Charge of the Light Brigade, Inkerman, Balaklava and Sebastopol - but I knew little about them. Without checking I cannot say how accurate the details are, but I cannot think that Ms McMahon could have written with such authority had she not researched the background most carefully. This is a most captivating story, one that will remain with me for a very long time. The rose? Ahh, you will have to read the story to find out!
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