The Rose of Sebastopol Hardcover - 2009 - 1st Edition

by Katharine McMahon

The #1 UK bestseller comes to America a sweeping historical novel about love,war, betrayal, and discovery.

In 1854, beautiful, adventurous Rosa Barr travels to theCrimean battlefield with Florence Nightingale's nursingcorps. A headstrong idealist, longing to break out of therigid confines of life as a young lady, Rosa is determined to makea difference in the world.

For Mariella Lingwood, Rosa's cousin, the war is containedwithin the pages of her scrapbook, in her London sewing circle,and in the letters she receives from her fiancé, Henry a celebratedsurgeon who has also volunteered to work within theshadow of the guns. When Henry falls ill and is sent to recuperatein Italy, Mariella impulsively decides she must go to him. Butupon her arrival at his lodgings, she makes a heartbreaking discovery:Rosa has disappeared without a trace. Following thetrail of her elusive cousin, Mariella's epic journey takes her fromthe domestic restraint of Victorian London to the ravaged landscapeof the Crimea and the tragic city of Sebastopol, where sheencounters Rosa's dashing stepbrother, a reckless cavalry officerwhose complex past and future is inextricably bound upwith her own. As Mariella's quest leads her deeper into the darkheart of the conflict, her ordered world begins to crumble andshe finds she has much to learn about secrecy, faithfulness, andlove.