Overview

Moving between Imperial China and the 'Terror' of the French Revolution and inspired by the true story of the quest for a blood-red rose. Viviane de Faitaud has grown up alone at the Chateau de Belisima-sur-le-Lac in Brittany. Her father, the Marquis, lives at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles. After a hailstorm destroys the chateau's orchards, gardens and fields an ambitious young Welshman, David Stronach, accepts the commission to plan the chateau's new gardens in the hope of making his name as a landscape designer. David and Viviane fall in love, but it is an impossible romance. Her father has betrothed her to a rich duke who she is forced to marry and David is hunted from the property. Viviane goes to court and becomes a maid-in-waiting to Marie-Antoinette and a member of the extended royal family. Angry and embittered, David sails away from England with Lord Macartney, the British ambassador, who hopes to open up trade with Imperial China. In Canton, the British embassy at last receives news from home, including their first reports of the French Revolution. David hears the story of 'The Blue Rose', a Chinese fable of impossible love, and discovers the blood-red rose growing in the wintry garden. He realises that he is still in love with Viviane and must find her. Viviane escapes the guillotine and returns to the ruin of Chateau de Belisima to rebuild her life. David carrying a cluster of rosehips finds her there, and together they decide to grow the fabled red rose of China in France.

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9780143786177

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Kate Forsyth is an award-winning author and oral storyteller who grew up on tales of Scottish history and folklore told by her grandmother and great-aunts. Her books include Psykhe, a feminist reimagining of the ancient Greek myth; Bitter Greens, a retelling of Rapunzel which won the American Library Association award for Best Historical Fiction; and The Witches of Eileanan, a dark romantic fantasy which was named one of the Best First Novels by Locus. Kate has a Doctorate of Creative Arts in fairy tale studies, and runs writing retreats and literary tours in Greece, the Cotswolds and Scotland. She has sold more than 1.5 million books in twenty languages.

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