Aw I loved this book and the characters just so gutted the way it ended but I would recommend it.. I was hoping for a happy ending but sadly it was not to be

I requested this ARC because I fell in love with the wonderful cover and discovered an amazing, atmospheric, and enthralling book!
I loved the female characters, so human and so realistic, that were well written and "tridimensional" and it was great to see them growing into strong women.
The historical background is well researched and I was fascinated by the world of silk weaver and Spitalfield.
Even if the book is a bit slow at the beginning it soon becames a fast paced and engaging read and you're not able to put it down.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for this ARC

Esther Thorel, the pious wife of a London silk weaver, helps unfortunate Sara Kemp get out of a brothel and become maid in her house. But while Esther thinks she is being a saviour, Sara has her own things to teach her mistress.

Blackberry and Wild Rose is the collision of two opposite worlds, that seem so very different, but which have so many similarities at their core. Narrated by both women in turns, the story shows both perspectives: the s-called privileged, and the so-called unfortunate. A tale of two perspectives, the story is set at the era of silk trade, showing us both the lives of the Masters of the trade, as well as those of the journeymen.

As the story unfolds, the reader gets to experience a lot of events from both sides, and there's something stunning in it. Reading Blackberry and Wild Rose, it's easy to see that there's always to sides in every story. But that's not all: Sonia Velton has managed to convey lots of beautiful messages in the book, without hindering its flow or turning it into a boring read.

Blackberry and Wild Rose is a beautiful historical fiction novel, one that all fans of the genre will certainly enjoy.

Have you ever simply loved a book BECAUSE you basically hated all the characters?

I know it sounds wrong. I should maybe say 'disliked' instead of 'hated'. Some I disliked strongly, some I even liked at times - but no character in this book was the kind of people I like.

And that's exactly what I loved about them!

Because they were... human. And humans act like they did. We are flawed, fallible, infuriating at times. People are the way these characters were written. They were realistic. Natural. I loved that they didn't act like characters in a book. They acted the way real people would do.

That being said, I honestly enjoyed this book. At first, at least part of the plot seemed to be too predictable, but I liked the way the story turned out in the second part of the book. The story, too, just like the characters, happened to be more realistic than I expected. It touched me. I also found the choice of time, place and topic interesting: I've never once given a thought to silk weavers of London in the 18th century before, but now I'm interested!

I also liked the way this book was written, it was nicely worded and many times beautiful, it made me feel things, the only thing I feel was not that good is that the difference between the styles of Esther and Sara, the two main characters (coming from very different places regarding both place and social situation) was non-existent. I thought they could write and speak very differently.

It's a strong historical debut that demonstrates the relations between men and women, rich and poor, master and worker, lady and servant. Thankfully it's not that black-and-white as it sounds - we get to see the 'grey areas', all the people caught up in different situations. Actually, I'm impressed how many kind of people's life and tragedies are shown in this book.

Tricked into prostitution as an innocent newcomer to London, Sara’s rescue by Esther from the clutches of the awful Mrs. Swann offers her the possibility of gaining control over her life. However, Sara soon finds that is seems she may have swapped one form of dependence for another, constantly at the back and call of her new mistress. Furthermore, the possibility that the shameful details of her previous life may be revealed is a constant fear, particularly since not everyone in the Thorel household welcomes her arrival.

Esther’s desire and determination to use her artistic talent to produce designs for silk is a search for her own form of emancipation, an escape from what she describes at one point as ‘her gilded cage’. It also becomes an act of defiance in response to her husband Elias’s hypocrisy and deceit - ‘He was not the man I had thought he was and I no longer took his word for granted’ - and his dismissal of her role as nothing more than social status symbol, bed-mate or organiser of their household. ‘There was no mistress of silk in this house, only a master.’

The stories of Esther and Sara are revealed to the reader in alternating points of view, in the first person.
Alongside learning of their stories, I also enjoyed discovering fascinating detail about the silk weaving process and its place in the Huguenot community of the time. In an early example of the affects of globalisation, it was interesting to witness how the pressures on the industry as a result of imports from abroad and competition from cheaper material created unrest between the journeymen silk weavers and those who controlled the Guild system and the silk weavers’ livelihoods.

At the end of the book, Esther and Sara both find themselves facing difficult personal and moral choices that may affect others, some with tragic consequences. However, their experiences leave both women stronger, leaving open the possibility of them forging different, more fulfilling paths in the future. (There were a couple of very minor unresolved plot points for a curious reader like myself.)

Blackberry and Wild Rose is an impressive, assured debut that will prove a treat for fans of historical fiction with well-crafted female characters and an interesting historical setting. In the author’s historical note, she explains that Esther’s character is ‘loosely inspired’ by a real life female pioneer of the Spitalfields silk community.

This is an amazing debut historical based novel set in London in 1768. The story is centred around two young ladies as their paths meet and the ongoing saga this unexpected meeting creates. Sara and Esther are from two different levels in society but they both discover that they are trapped and locked into the life expected of them.It is a great read which I found gripping as I wanted to discover the next steps in their lives and their reactions. It is fast paced and helped by the short chapters as the novel alternates between Sara and Esther., their views and their life as seen by the other woman. It has a some very sad places which made it even more realistic. I thought that it would be predictable but as it turned out it was not and the ending was certainly not what I expected. I adored the cover and the way that this showcased the story.
A lot of research went into general life back in that period but also the background of the silk weaving trade was very detailed and added a lot to the book.

I was sent an advance copy of Blackberry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton to read and review by NetGalley.
I enjoyed this book, possibly more than I thought I would when I started it. To begin with it seemed to be a run of the mill romance but it turned out to have more to it than that. Written from two first person perspectives in alternate chapters the novel follows the lives of two women, Esther and Sara, both seemingly coming from opposite ends of the societal spectrum. The story is set in the 18th century during a time of unrest amongst the Huguenot silk weavers of Spitalfields, which creates some welcome tension in the latter half of the book. Though not quite up there with the likes of Jessie Burton and Tracy Chevalier as is mentioned in the blurb I have still rated it with 4 stars as I feel that it would make a good holiday read.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I am a sucker for historical fiction, especially when set in London. A simple story of 2 women and how their lives become entwined through lies and untruths. Set to a backdrop of the silk industry at Spitalfields in the 1770’s the author spins a story so engaging, atmospheric and immensely immersive that one can’t help bring drawn into the intrigue and drama that unfolds. I don’t believe in spoilers but I did shed a tear at one point, so was my frustration and sadness at the turn of events.

A perfect read for fans of Sarah Waters and was reminiscent of Jennifer Donnelly’s Tea Rose Trilogy.

Cant finish the review without commenting on the most beautiful artwork on the cover. Superb!!!

I loved this and so will historical fiction fans who enjoyed The Miniaturist, Tipping the Velvet or Emma Donhue's Slammerkin. The world of silkworkers in 18th century Spitalfields is brought to life by Sonia Velton and I appreciated the research she must have done into the intricacies of silk weaving.
The novel centres on two women, both trapped by the limitations of their gender and determined to break free; one the wife of a wealthy silk Master and the other a lowly housemaid, fresh from a life of enforced prostitution. Both are flawed and brave, blinkered and selfish, victims and activists. I'd certainly read more by this writer.

Firstly I would like to thank the author, Netgalley and the publishers for my free ARC.
The story is neatly laid out from two perspectives- that of Sara and Esther. Sara had arrived at Spitalfields a naive and vulnerable girl and landed herself as a whore before she truly knew what was going on. Esther is married to a silk weaver and in comparison has found herself sold to the domestic woman's role and unable to fulfil her duty of producing an heir. There is parity in their situations. However Esther thinks she can "save" Sara and yet she can sense that bringing Sara into her home has changed the path of her life forever.
As a reader I enjoyed the fact that despite the simplicity of the story it is told with twists that precipitate discussion and thought. In some sense our protagonists have both been duped, abused and tempted by the allure of something new.
This is a very fast and easy read although be careful not to miss poignant moments.
It would be remiss not to take this opportunity to point to the beautiful book design. Unfortunately the ARC is without credit as at the time it was awaiting title artwork.
Blackberry and Wild Rose, inspired by real characters and historical events, was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress, was longlisted for the Mslexia novel competition, and is Sonia's first novel.
The hardcover is released on 10 January 2019.

Enjoyable storyline to this and shows a side to life that we don't really see anymore. Definitely a good read and thought provoking

I really enjoyed this historical novel set in the 18th century. With a background of the silk weavers and their fight against cheap imports and alternative fabrics, it’s a fascinating insight into market forces and the plight of women, regardless of background, in a man’s world.
I was slightly disappointed by the ending but I also realise that it was probably a realistic conclusion. For a debut novel, I think the author has written a little gem.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

This story was a hint of Trading Places, as we see a ‘good’ Christian woman get turned by desires when she takes in a whore with a strong ambition.
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I would recommend this to fans of Sarah Waters books, or The Tea Planters Wife, and The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, and all other books of that type of Historical Fiction where you can get mixed up with household lies, maids and madams, and drama!

A solid good read.

I enjoyed this book very much, I thought it very evocative of its time. The story is centred round the silk industry, bought to Spitalfields in London by the Huguenots, who had been hounded out of France because of their Protestant religious belief’s. But times were getting hard for the silk industry. New fabrics were coming into the country, just as decorative but a lot cheaper. The journeymen silk weavers were finding their wages cut, or even losing their jobs, and their families were starving. That is the background to this story.

In 1768, naive young Sara Kemp is sent to London by her mother, to make her way in the world. Sadly she is immediately found by Mrs Swann, who runs a brothel from a pub, the Wig and Feathers. Mrs Swann steals her money, and the piece of paper with the address of the lady Sara’s mother was sending her to. Sara is drugged, and immediately, in her drugged state, set to work as a prostitute. Esther Thorel is married to Elias, a master silk weaver with several journeymen working for him. They are very wealthy, but not very happy together, Elias has little interest in his wife, particularly because they have been married for four years and still no child. His neighbours were horrified when he married her, as it was intended for him to marry within the Huguenot community. He won’t explain how the silk is made even though Esther is fascinated by it, or even spend time with her.

Sara and Esther meet in the street when Esther is delivering bibles to a charity house. On impulse she gives one to Sara, and tells her where she lives. Sara ignores the information for a while, but when a client nearly kills her she takes fright and goes to Esther to beg for a job as a maid. She is very bright, and eventually suggests that Esther needs a ladies maid, a step up the ladder for her.

In different ways they both get caught up in the turmoil of the silk industry, Sara finds herself pregnant by a journeyman hothead and Esther learns how to make a silk pattern, and then how to weave it on the loom with the help of a brilliant young man with ambition to be a master weaver. On the night that Sara’s baby is born there is a riot, with the journeymen attacking the Thorel house, and the two women are caught up in it, and in the aftermath, which is very sad and traumatic for both of them, and others.

Both women eventually find some form of happiness, perhaps not what either of them expected, and perhaps bitter-sweet for both of them. They both have learned valuable lessons.

I will look out for more by this author, she writes a very compelling story.

Velton’s debut novel features the silk weaving Huguenots and journeymen of Spitalfields in the 18th Century and tells the intertwining stories of Sara Kemp and Esther Thorel.

Sara Kemp didn’t stand much of chance when she first arrived in the London parish of Spitalfields in 1768. Tricked into a life of prostitution and living in abject poverty is how she meets Esther Thorel, the wife of a Huguenot silk master. Esther stuck in a loveless marriage takes an interest in Sara and hires her as her lady’s maid. Sara and Esther share a tumultuous relationship which is constantly in threat of being unravelled by their actions.

Velton does well to create a rich and atmospheric insight into 18th Century London and captures the historic details beautifully. I found myself enamoured by the details of Blackberry and Wild Rose and I completely devoured it but as for the plot, I found it to be lacking. There is no major catalyst or explosive climax to this book, as far as the story goes, it really doesn’t go at all and that’s the problem.

Overall, I enjoyed this book so I’ll give it three out of five stars. However, I wished it had upped the ante. Characters, whilst unlikable, were well-fleshed, the book itself was descriptive and engaging but in its entirety, it was a little too much style over substance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Blackberry and Wild Rose is an intriguing debut novel following female protagonists Esther Thorel and Sara Kemp at the heart of Georgian London's silk weaving industry. The novel opens with Esther, the wife of a well-known Spitalfields silk weaver, rescuing prostitute Sara Kemp from a brothel and employing her as a lady's maid.

The relationship between lady's maid and mistress was explored in depth through each of the protagonists' eyes, focusing on the unique position of the lady's maid as a bridge between the upstairs and downstairs worlds of an upper class Georgian house. I thoroughly enjoyed reading from the perspective of a servant as well as the mistress, and felt it really gave an extra dimension to the story.

I would have liked to have had more distinction between Esther and Sara's narrative voices, but on the whole I found Sonia Velton's writing style to be very clean and easy to read. There was some beautiful descriptive prose, whilst maintaining a good pace to keep me engrossed in the story.

The plot focused in detail on the process of silk weaving and the politics surrounding the industry in the latter half of the 18th century. Although quite heavy on the detail, these portions of the story were always presented in an engaging way that was relevant to the plot, and never felt as though Sonia Velton was reciting from a history textbook.

Although the primary focus was on the two protagonists, there was an element of romance to this novel which I found a little predictable. It could have been developed a little more, but in a way I'm glad it wasn't as I much preferred the interactions between Esther and Sara, in particular the exploration of duty and loyalty between the two women.

Overall this was a solid debut novel, exploring the hopes and ambitions of two very different women in a period when women were denied a voice of their own. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Esther and Sara's story, and would definitely recommend Blackberry and Wild Rose if you enjoy historical fiction novels with complex female protagonists.

My review will be posted to sepiatintedwindow.wordpress.com on the 8th January, 2019.

It’s 1768 and Sara Kemp has just arrived in Spitalfields, the London parish which has become home to a thriving community of Huguenot silk weavers. Sara is full of hope and optimism, ready to start a new life, but before she’s had time to get her bearings she finds herself the victim of a cruel trick which leaves her with no choice other than to live and work in a notorious brothel.

In a much more respectable house nearby lives the master weaver Elias Thorel and his wife Esther. Their marriage is not a loving or happy one, but Esther has been trying to take an interest in her husband’s work and has discovered an aptitude for designing floral patterns. There’s nothing she wants more than to see one of her own designs woven in silk, but Elias is scornful and refuses to acknowledge her talent. Still determined to turn her dreams into reality, Esther approaches the journeyman weaver who has been using the loom in the Thorels’ attic to weave his master piece.

Two women leading very different lives – but their paths cross when Esther is distributing Bibles in the poorer areas of Spitalfields and sees Sara being abused by her madam outside the brothel. Soon Sara is working as a lady’s maid in Esther’s household, but how will she repay Esther for her act of kindness?

I was drawn to Blackberry and Wild Rose by the beautiful cover – and the mention of an 18th century setting and the comparisons to Jessie Burton and Tracy Chevalier made me want to read it even more. Of course, none of those things guaranteed that I would like the book, but I’m pleased to say that I did!

First of all, there are the fascinating details of weaving, of using looms, designing patterns, and everything else involved in creating beautiful figured silk. At the beginning of the novel, Esther knows very little of any of this – she only knows that she wants to see her designs brought to life – but she learns a lot from the weaver she befriends, and her enthusiasm (and, I think, the author’s) comes through very strongly:

"By the time the candle had burned down to a waxy stump, the thinnest sliver of iridescent silk clung to the heddles. ‘I can’t believe it,’ I breathed. I was finally looking at the very beginning of a silk made to a pattern I had designed. My own creation. ‘How long will it take to finish it?’"

I could feel Esther’s excitement and pride as her silk took shape, as well as her disappointment and anger at her husband’s lack of support. Through the stories of Esther’s weaver friend Bisby Lambert and some of the other Spitalfields weavers, we also learn about some of the issues and challenges the industry faced and how the workers had to fight for their rights against unscrupulous masters and the threat of cheap imports from abroad.

An even more engaging aspect of the book is the relationship between the two main characters, Esther and Sara, whose narratives alternate throughout the novel. At first, Esther feels sorry for Sara, as she would for any woman driven to prostitution, and she wants to do what she can to help. Once Sara is there, in the Thorel household, however, their relationship is an uneasy one and Esther begins to wonder whether she has done the right thing in bringing Sara into her home:

"She was like a cat sidling in uninvited and looking about. You don’t want to turn it out straight away so you offer it a scrap of food. The next thing you know it’s curled up on your favourite chair, watching you with unblinking elliptic eyes."

As for Sara, she quickly becomes aware that Esther’s life is not as perfect as it seems and that she is hiding some secrets of her own. While a friendship does form between the two women, they are not entirely comfortable around each other and neither is quite sure whether the other can be trusted, which makes for a tense and exciting story! The plot kept me gripped throughout the book and although I thought I could predict how it would end, I was wrong and the ending was actually much more realistic than I’d expected. This is an impressive debut novel and I hope to read more from Sonia Velton in the future.

The story is set in the late Eighteenth Century at that time of the Huguenot silk weavers in Spitalfields in London's east end.

Sarah Kemp on arriving in London is tricked into becoming a whore in a brothel. Esther Thorel comes across her being mistreated and pays off her debts for her to become her maid. Sarah although slightly grateful is jealous of her employee and when the situation presents itself has no qualms in telling Esther's husband untruths and half-lies about her.... which leads to devastating consequences.

Esther has dreams and ambitions of her own to design the silk. Her husband quickly puts her down and says no. She goes behind his back with the help of his journeyman, Bisby who weaves her beautiful "blackberry & wild rose" design. Bisby's feelings for Esther grow although he knows it can go nowhere..

A richly drawn historical novel which I devoured.

Spittlefields London, 1768, Sarah Kemp is sent from the country to work in the city where due to her naivety, she falls into prostitution.

Esther Thorel, respectable lady married to a silk weaving merchant with time on her hands.

When the paths of these two ladies cross it would seem they have nothing in common, but in reality they are both prisoners and they need each other to escape.

The description of London and the silk weaving was very interesting and I felt that Sonia captured the spirit of those rebellious times very well. The only reason for 4 stars is that it took a few chapters to draw me into the book.

A beautiful cover attracted me towards this book, filled with a historical tale, woven around the history of the silk-weavers of Spitalfields.
The combined story of Sara, a young girl who came to London to find her fortune, and ended up in the flesh trade, and that of Esther, the wife of a well-to-do silk weaver make for an interesting mix.
They are both women who are being held down by what society at the time dictates as the correct behaviour of a woman, yet they both have aspirations above these expectations.
It took me a little time to get into the story, but I enjoyed the tale as a whole, and how both women's stories were knitted together by circumstance.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to an arc copy, for an honest review.