Blackberry & wild rose

Format:

Book

Title:

Blackberry & wild rose

Other title(s):

Blackberry and wild rose

Author:

Velton, Sonia author

ISBN:

9781538507759

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

Ashland, Oregon : Blackstone Publishing, 2019.

Physical Description:

288 pages ; 24 cm

Summary:

1760s, Spitalfields. Esther Thorel, wife of a master silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel thinking she is doing God's will, but her good deed is not returned. Sara, realizing the Thorel household is built on hypocrisy and lies, tires of the drudgery of life as Esther's maid. Esther yearned to be a silk designer, but her water colors are dismissed by her husband, Elias, as the daubs of a foolish girl. Bisby Lambert is brought in by Elias to weave his masterpiece on the Thorel's loom in the attic. The cadence of the loom calls to Esther. When she sees Bisby at his loom, the pursuit of the perfect silk design leads them all into ambition, love, and betrayal. -- adapted from jacket.

Subject(s):

Silk weaving -- Fiction.

Women designers -- Fiction.

Designers -- Fiction.

Lady's maids -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	Velton, S.	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Woodburn Public Library	Velton	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Set in eighteenth-century Spitalfields, London, Blackberry and Wild Rose is the rich and atmospheric tale of a household of Huguenot silk weavers as the pursuit of the perfect silk design leads them all into ambition, love, and betrayal.

When Esther Thorel, wife of a master silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel, she thinks she is doing God's will, but her good deed is not returned. Sara quickly realizes that the Thorel household is built on hypocrisy and lies and soon tires of the drudgery of life as Esther's new lady's maid. As the two women's relationship becomes increasingly fractious, Sara resolves to find out what it is that so preoccupies her mistress ...

Esther has long yearned to be a silk designer. When her early water colors are dismissed by her husband, Elias, as the daubs of a foolish girl, she continues her attempts in secret. It may have been that none of them would ever have become actual silks, were it not for the presence of the extraordinarily talented Bisby Lambert in the Thorel household. Brought in by Elias to weave his master piece on the Thorel's loom in the attic of their house in Spitalfields, the strange cadence of the loom as Bisby works is like a siren call to Esther. The minute she first sets foot in the garret and sees Bisby Lambert at his loom, marks the beginning of Blackberry and Wild Rose , the most exquisite silk design Spitalfields has ever seen, and the end of the Thorel household's veneer of perfection.

As unrest among the journeyman silk weavers boils over into riot and rebellion, it leads to a devastating day of reckoning between Esther and Sara.

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

In eighteenth-century East London, Esther Thorel, the wife of a prominent Huguenot silk weaver, whose marriage has soured after years of childlessness, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel and offers her employment as a lady's maid. Despite her husband's disapproval of her interest in a masculine occupation, Esther longs to turn her artistic designs into silks and begins to do just that with the clandestine help of Bisby Lambert, the gifted weaver using her husband's extra loom to create his masterpiece. However, the presence of Sara in the household means that this secret will not remain buried for long, as Esther and Sara become increasingly resentful of each other's perceived hypocrisies and lies. This debut is leisurely paced, but the tension builds steadily as each woman uncovers devastating secrets about the other and as the dissatisfaction of local silk weavers spills over into riot. The fraught relationship between Sara and Esther is beautifully drawn, and fans of Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist (2014) will thoroughly enjoy this engrossing, atmospheric tale of two women struggling for control of their own lives.--Martha Waters Copyright 2019 Booklist

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Velton's intriguing debut spotlights both the successes and hardships of Huguenot silk weavers in 18th-century England. Young and alone, Sara Kemp arrives in Spitalfields, London. She is soon swept away to the Wig and Feathers tavern by a forceful brothel proprietress, thus beginning a dangerous, dismal life of prostitution. Esther Thorel, the wife of one of the finest master silk weavers, offers Sara a position as lady's maid and a fresh start away from her unsavory past. Esther, a painter, longs to design silks, but her husband, Elias, dismisses her talent while resenting her barrenness and inability to provide a son to learn his trade. Enter Bisby Lambert, an exquisitely talented journeyman commissioned by Elias to weave his masterpiece on the Thorels' attic loom. As the weaving begins to take shape, the tumultuous Thorel household, full of secrets and longing, begins to unravel. The story unfolds in alternating points of view between Sara and Esther, women of vastly different circumstances who both harbor secrets. VERDICT Fans of Tracy Chevalier and Jennifer Chiaverini will be captivated by this story for its atmospheric, historically rich drama, and forbidden romance.-Laura Jones, Argos Community Schs., IN © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.