THE ROSE GARDEN

1895. Hampstead, London. Olive Westallen lives a privileged life in her family''s West Hampstead home, but a lonely one. At twenty-eight she is now considered far too old to marry, but Olive is determined to count her blessings, not weep over those that have passed her by. She has radical plans for the future of the Westallen family - plans that will shock the high-society world she inhabits. London is an exciting new playground to explore for twelve-year-old Ottilie Finch. Her family have recently arrived from Durham, under the cloud of a scandal that Otty is blissfully unaware of. She is in love with London Zoo, the stately homes, the heath . . . and the canals, with their horse-drawn barges and busy bustle at all hours. The only shadow over her days is the mysterious illness of her mother, which keeps Mrs Finch to her room, away from all company. For eighteen-year-old Mabs, life on the canal is far from exotic: it is a daily grind, where she risks life and limb to take home a meagre pay packet to her widowed father, and her little brothers and sisters. So when she is offered the role of housemaid to the Finches in their grand Hampstead house, it seems like the ticket to a better life. Little does she know that not all is all as picture-perfect as it seems. Mabs is about to become tangled in the secrets that chased the Finches from their last home, and stuck in an impossible dilemma . . . The Rose Garden is an absorbing and moving novel, perfect for fans of Dinah Jefferies, Lucinda Riley and Rachel Hore. ''Tracy''s writing is so fresh, original and authentic'' Rosanna Ley ''Tracy Rees writes from the heart'' Kathryn Hughes ''Tracy Rees is the most outstanding new voice in historical fiction'' Lucinda Riley