The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Fiona Finnegan is a young woman, living in London's Whitechapel in 1888. Whitechapel is one of the most poor and notorious neighbourhoods of London, where a sinister murder named Jack the Ripper is luring around, killing innocent people.
Fiona is a factory girl in one of the tea factory's of the wealthy William Burton.Her father works there too and is one of the presidents of the underground union that wants better working conditions and protection for the factory workers. The factory wants to get rid of him, so they make up a secret plan to get rid of Fiona's father, who's body is soon found lifeless. This has a huge impact on the life and dream of Fiona and her boyfriend Joe. Their goal is to open their own teashop in the city.

The smart Fiona soon discovers that her father's dead wasn't an accident, and now her life is in great danger. She escapes on a boat to New York, leaving her beloved Joe behind. Will she ever see him again? In New York, she soon climbs up on the ladder of the tea business, and she can finally open her own tea shop, with the help of a few new and loving friends. But then the ghosts and dangers of her past in London are starting to haunt her again in New York..

I was totally blown away by this fabulous and brilliant novel. This was the first  Jennifer Donnelly novel I've read, and now I just want to read every book she has written!
The story was just amazing, it really is a book you must make time for as it is pretty huge at first sight, but it reads quite fast. I loved to read how Fiona succeeded in New York with her own tea business, something quite rare during that time when it was far more difficult for women to start doing business.

As I am a huge fan of historical novels that take place somewhere between 1800-1900 ànd a fan of historical immigration-to-New York- stories, this was the perfect read. Can't wait to pick up my copy of Jennifer Donnelly's lates novel which just came out recently; Revolution