Fans of Jennifer Donnelly's previous works, The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose, are in for a treat with the latest book in this historical saga. THE WILD ROSE is a beautifully researched historical tale combined with an intense plot, well-developed characters and gorgeous prose. Because there are so many recurring characters from the first two books in the ROSE trilogy, I would recommend beginning with the The Tea Rose and continuing from there. However, THE WILD ROSE has enough excitement, suspense, love and tension to stand completely and successfully on its own. Donnelly also provides quite a bit of backstory within the first 50 pages of THE WILD ROSE to catch the readers up on the action. The Washington Post calls Donnelly "a master of pacing and plot" and I couldn't agree more. What I love most is the way Donnelly provides the readers with so much detail into the time period that you can truly see the stories playing out right before your eyes.