The Last Camellia
By Sarah Jio
Plume May 2013
306 pages
Won from Rebecca at Love at First Book
On the brink of WWII, Flora is a desperate young woman with a difficult choice. Her parents' bakery is in financial trouble. A mysterious man makes her an incredible offer - she will pose as a nanny at an English estate and search for the last known Middlebury Pink Camellia. Flora hopes that the job will be quick and she can get back to her life. She never expects to love the children she cares for or to find a man she can't live without. Centuries later, Addison moves to the same estate with her husband Rex. A notebook gives Addison some insight into the past but it also causes her to ask some troubling questions about the people who lived in their house and loved the beautiful and rare Middlebury Pink Camellia.
The Last Camellia is a good historical novel. It's not really a WWII novel - the war sort of dances around the peripheries of the plot. It is, however, one of those tales of an English manor house complete with wealthy inhabitants, their servants, and the various intrigues that go along with them. It's impossible to read through these pages without imagining the Livingston Manor in all of its glory - lush gardens, imposing rooms, and forbidden wings of the house.
The novel is predictable in several places and seemed unlikely in others. There were several moments, particularly in Addison's timeline, when things seemed a little too convenient to actually occur. Flora knows nothing about children, but intrinsically understands what a preteen girl, two young boys, and a toddler need. The ending ties together so perfectly that Jio may as well have put a bow on the last few pages. But somehow that doesn't really take away from the story.
I think there is a certain type of reading mood when you want something atmospheric that ends in all of the ways you hope. The Last Camellia is a great choice for a reassuring read - there is a mystery that will be solved, lovers will be reunited, and everything will end happily ever after.
I think there is a certain type of reading mood when you want something atmospheric that ends in all of the ways you hope. The Last Camellia is a great choice for a reassuring read - there is a mystery that will be solved, lovers will be reunited, and everything will end happily ever after.
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