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Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Rose is a wonderfully rich and intricate novel set in nineteenth-century Wigan, a town located in the coal country of Lancashire. Its protagonist, Jonathan Blair, is a mining engineer who has been chased out of Africa for "stealing" from the missionaries' Bible Fund in order to pay off the porter of his expedition into the interior of the Gold Coast; he is now down and out in London. Blair's employer, Bishop Hannay, promises to send him back to Africa if he can find John Maypole, the curate who was engaged to his daughter, Charlotte Hannay, when he disappeared three months previously without explanation. Charlotte herself is an ill-tempered young woman who takes an instant dislike to Blair when he tries to investigate her fiancé's disappearance. Other characters include assorted townspeople, miners at the Hannay family mine, and Rose Molyneux, a "pit girl" with whom Blair falls in love. Exceeding even the high.… (more)
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Desperate to return to Africa, Jonathan agrees to investigate the disappearance of a local curate who was engaged to marry the daughter of Jonathan's patron. As he begins his search, every road leads back to one woman - a haughty, vixenish pit girl named Rose. With her fiery hair and skirts pinned up over trousers, she cares nothing for a society that call her unnatural, scandalous and a 'loose' woman.
As Rose and Jonathan circle one another, first warily, then with the heat of mutual desire, Blair loses his balance. And the lull induced by Rose's sensual touch leaves Jonathan totally unprepared for the bizarre, soul-scorching truth.
I found that this book was very interesting, although the ending was extremely convoluted. I had to find out what happened in the book, even though I couldn't really understand the mining practices of 19th-century England that were written about in such detail. I give this book an A!
The mystery deepens, involving the highest classes of the town including the clergy and in particular the headstrong, distant, cold daughter of the bishop who controls the town and, he thinks, Blair too, as well as a firey, sensual, sexual pitgirl named Rose. The description of social conditions and in particular the awful conditions for the workers strikes me as accurate (I recall George Orwell's book, The Road to Wigan Pier, which also detailed the harshness of life for so many in a mining town). It is hard to see how any thinking person (from today's perspective) could be anything other than a socialist given the conditions of work and life, the callousness, the almost complete disregard for safety and health of the workers.
A good story, a good pace, well written and with a good ending. An enjoyable read.
Blair’s task is to investigate the disappearance of a minister engaged to the daughter of Blair’s benefactor, a wealthy member of the British landed class. While doing this, the reader receives a nice view of a 19th century mining town, which can be rather disturbing or depressing. The dialog is excellent throughout the book, although sometimes crisper and more fluent than most conversation that I’ve ever heard.
It is a good, well-written book. I thought some of the plot devices were somewhat unconvincing, but for a fast-paced detective story, this is not a serious complaint.
Another of MCS's talents is the ability to give you the feeling what it was like in a different time and place. I come away from a MCS book thinking, "If it wasn't like that, it should have been." Things fit together into a cohernt reality, different than the one I live in.
MCS's protagonists share a capacity for really lacerating black humor that crops out unexpectedly and unforgettably. Often, these one-liners show starkly the contrast between what is just and what is being done. Len Deighton could do this too, as could Edward Gibbon. MCS is a true master.
MCS by no means writes one-person stories. In Rose, there are a number of interesting characters, some at a distance from the main course of the narrative. He can't put up a character quite as fast as Dickens, but then very few authors can, and he's not so very far behind. His people live and breathe on their own - in this book, look over Smallwood, and Battie. Even the druggist who sells Blair both quinine and arsenic in a brief scene brings a picture of an individual person to mind.
This book, as most of Martin Cruz Smith's books is one that can be re-read with great pleasure. I'm very happy to have it in my collection.
The year is 1872. The place is Wigan, England, a coal town where rich mine owners live lavishly alongside miners no better than slaves. Into this dark, complicated world comes Jonathan Blair, who has accepted a commission to find a missing man.
When he begins