Review: Jackie French’s ‘The Lily and the Rose’

Posted on March 23, 2018 by ausromtoday in Reviews // 0 Comments

The Lily and the Rose
Jackie French

The war is over. But can there ever truly be peace?

Australian heiress Sophie Higgs was ‘a rose of no-man’s land’, founding hospitals across war-torn Europe during the horror that was WW1.

Now, in the 1920s, Sophie’s wartime work must be erased so that the men who returned can find some kind of ‘normality’.

Sophie is, however, a graduate of the mysterious Miss Lily’s school of charm and intrigue, and once more she risks her own life as she attempts to save others still trapped in the turmoil and aftermath of war.

But in this new world, nothing is clear, in politics or in love. For the role of men has changed too. Torn between the love of three very different men, Sophie will face her greatest danger yet as she attempts an impossible journey across the world to save Nigel, Earl of Shillings – and her beloved Miss Lily.

In this sequel to the bestselling Miss Lily’s Lovely Ladies, Jackie French draws us further into a compelling story that celebrates the passion and adventure of an unstoppable army of women who changed the world.

HarperCollins Australia

What AusRom Today thought:
Jackie French is a consummate storyteller and The Lily and the Rose, set against the backdrop of the Great War, war-torn Europe, and colonial Australia, is a shining example of her talents as a novelist.

Romance (in the form of three different gentlemen), love, and the complexities of marriage are all portrayed throughout and French has done well to write these flawlessly in the vein of the historical era in which the story is set.

French depicts, with a comfortable ease, the swiftness and degree of change with which the world changed as a result of WWI with particular attention given to highlighting the importance of women in supporting and strategising during wartime and how those efforts effected overall efforts.

There is a deftness to French’s writing that is both inviting and inspiring. The Lily and the Rose is certainly a novel that I would wholeheartedly recommend.