Kate Forsyth – The Blue Rose (Literature Review)

Australian master storyteller Kate Forsyth doesn’t disappoint with her new novel, The Blue Rose.

It’s 1788 and France is in chaos. The aristocracy – for all its glitz and glamour – is on the edge of ruin. Peasants bang at the door of Versailles, half dead from lack of food whilst those inside feast on never-ending banquets.

Safe in her chateau in Brittany, the marquis’ daughter Viviane lives a fairly peaceful life. From the outside, it looks as though she is free to do what she pleases, but she is lonely and suspicious of those who surround her. Everyone is nervous, and it wouldn’t take much for stories of how Viviane spends her days to get back to her father. And that is something she fears more than anything.

But when her father employs a new gardener, David, to transform the property in celebration of his new marriage, Viviane begins to find hope where there once was none. A tentative friendship begins to blossom into something more, until her father returns to the chateau and destroys everything. Suddenly, Viviane is on her way back to Versailles as the wife of a duke much older than she and David sets out for Imperial China, as far away from his forbidden love as he can manage. Will these young lovers find their way back to one another, or are they destined to lead separate lives?

Kate Forsyth, whose ability to blend fables, fairy tales or myth and legends from around the world with true events, has made her a force to be reckoned with when it comes to historical fiction. Everyone from fellow authors Natasha Lester (The Paris Seamstress) and Kimberley Freeman (Stars Across the Ocean) to critics and fans have nothing but praise for her work. And it’s easy to see why.

My introduction to Forsyth’s novels came when I read her last offering Beauty in Thorns, and I can tell you from experience that her writing is pretty much flawless. She does so much research during the writing process that it’s clear she knows the world she wants to inhabit inside and out, and yet we see little evidence of it. At no point does she get carried away in fact.

The chemistry between the two characters in The Blue Rose on point. The setting in France is described with such vibrancy that it’s almost as though you’re a fly on the wall of these grand estates, following the aristocracy as they try to outrun their doomed future. The same is true of when you read of David’s experiences in China.

You’re completely immersed in the story from the very beginning, with facts and figures of importance deftly threaded through where necessary. It’s the mark of a great writer that she is able to do this so well and is one of the reasons I will continue to read (and enjoy) her work.

I say this about a lot of novels, but it’s never truer than in The Blue Rose: it hooks you from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the very end. And even then, you want more. If you don’t pick up The Blue Rose, then you’re missing out.

The Blue Rose is out now through Penguin Random House. To get your copy, or find out more about the books they publish, visit their website.