This book was painfully boring and I found myself skipping pages just to finish it. The characters were dry, not well developed and the plot rambled.

London Roses by Dora Greenwell McChesney, first published in 1903, follows the stories of a group of people who meet in the Manuscript Room at the British Museum. Rhoda Comstock is a young American woman who has come to London to stay with her English cousin, Una Thorpe, and the two strike up a friendship one day with journalist Stephen Fulford and his brother Thomas, getting together to discuss their research and to engage in lighthearted debate about the differences between life in Britain and America. When Stephen makes the sudden decision to go to South Africa to report on the Boer War, he leaves behind a scandal which puts Thomas in a difficult position and poses a threat not only to the bond between the two brothers but also to their newly formed relationships with Rhoda and Una.

London Roses is packed with interesting ideas and themes – loyalty and friendship; the importance of trust; adjusting to life in a different country – although none of these things are explored in as much depth as they could have been. The characters also had the potential to be a lot more complex and well-developed than they actually were. None of the main four ever came fully to life and I was much more intrigued by the character of Anthony Pettigrew, an old man Rhoda nicknames the Moth, who has spent thirty years coming to the British Museum to research books that he’s never written. On a more positive note, there are some nice descriptions of London and the Museum!

The story opens in the manuscript room of the British Library at the time of the Second Boer War.

Unfortunately for me, Boer (or bore) is the operative word here as the story rambles on without really getting to the point or setting up the story, despite an interesting premise. Failed to ignite any spark of interest. I note others persevered and commented that the story seemed to improve - but not quite soon enough for me.