Monday, May 21, 2012

For All the Tea in China


  • Happy Victoria Day!
    I love our quixotic, very Canadian holiday. Did you know Canada is the only country in the world to celebrate Victoria Day? Strange but true.
    Below two Victorianish book picks for the St. Albert Gazette Good reading! column.

    For All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose
    A ripping tale of Victorian adventure, all the more incredible because it’s true. In 1848, the British East India Company sent Scottish botanist Robert Fortune deep inside China to steal the secrets to tea horticulture. A thrilling account of Fortune’s remarkable journeys into China – a daring act of corporate espionage.

    The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin
    An appealing novel of changing times in the late Victorian era, sure to appeal to fans of Downton Abbey. In 1893, Cora Cash, America's richest heiress, heads to Europe with her mother to marry into aristocracy. Soon enough, engaged to the Duke of Wareham, Cora discovers that money can’t buy everything.
     
    The painting of Victoria above was Victoria's secret: a special painting by Franz Winterhalter of Vic at age 24 done for her husband Albert. known as the "secret picture", Albert kept the painting in his private chambers and it only became known to the public in 2002.

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