Review: Blackberry & Wild Rose by Sonia Velton

When Esther Thorel, the wife of a Huguenot silk-weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel she thinks she is doing God’s will. Sara is not convinced being a maid is better than being a whore, but the chance to escape her grasping ‘madam’ is too good to refuse.

Inside the Thorels’ tall house in Spitalfields, where the strange cadence of the looms fills the attic, the two women forge an uneasy relationship. The physical intimacies of washing and dressing belie the reality: Sara despises her mistress’s blindness to the hypocrisy of her household, while Esther is too wrapped up in her own secrets to see Sara as anything more than another charitable cause.

It is silk that has Esther so distracted. For years she has painted her own designs, dreaming that one day her husband will weave them into reality. When he laughs at her ambition, she strikes up a relationship with one of the journeyman weavers in her attic who teaches her to weave and unwittingly sets in motion events that will change the fate of the whole Thorel household.

I have to admit it. What first drew me to this book was its cover. Stunning is an understatement! And thankfully what's inside more than lives up to the beautiful cover. Blackberry & Wild Rose is dark, atmospheric dual narrative historical fiction that I couldn't put down.

The story is told from two points of view, Esther Thorel, the wife of a silk weaver, and Sara Kemp - her maid whom she 'rescued' from a brothel. Neither woman is wholly likable, and each has a skewed view of what the other's life is like, the secrets the other keeps. Esther sees Sara as a charitable cause, Sara sees Esther as a privileged hypocrite - claiming to be deeply pious while living a life of luxury.

Esther dreams of designing her own silks, but of course the looms are no place for a woman, and her ambition has repercussions no one could have foreseen, as the tensions between journeyman weavers and master weavers reaches boiling point, leaving Sara in a quandary of her own.

The weaving industry is something that I know very little about, and I found the historical detail fascinating - from the actual weaving processes to the formation of 'combinations' - early workers unions fighting for their rights. The imagery and storytelling was so vivid in my mind I could picture it as if I were watching it on screen - and I do hope that the book gets adapted for film or television someday. It was also interesting to read in the authors notes that Esther's character is loosely based on Anna Marie Garthwaite, an eighteenth century silk designer, and that the novel's title is actually taken from one of her pieces.

Packed with twists and turns, shifting allegiances and period detail, Blackberry and Wild Rose is a treat. I can't wait to read more from Sonia Velton!

**Thanks to Ella Patel at Quercus Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a review!**