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White Rose

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Evangelina Cisneros is a very beautiful nineteen-year-old girl who, along with her father, is active in the struggle to oust the Spanish from Cuba in the late 1890s. When her father is arrested, she pleads his case to a Spanish general, who falls in love with her. She spurns his advances and is herself thrown in jail for her revolutionary activities.

When reports of her imprisonment reach the New York papers, Evangelina becomes a cause cilhbre among the city's many society women. William Randolph Hearst, recognizing an opportunity, sends one of his star journalists, Karl Decker, to Havana on the pretense of interviewing her when in fact he is on a mission to effect her escape. As she tells him her story, the two find themselves falling in love. Back in America, Decker's wife is becoming increasingly suspicious of her husband's absences. After a frightening escape, Evangelina and Karl arrive in New York, where they are heralded as heroes. But then they must inevitably face Decker's wife and a decision that will affect all their lives.

Based on a true story, White Rose is part romance and love story and part spy thriller. Set in both the exotic, primitive world of Cuba and the high-society milieu of Manhattan in 1897, here is a story that will inspire the imagination and capture the heart.Evangelina Cisneros is a very beautiful nineteen-year-old girl who, along with her father, is active in the struggle to oust the Spanish from Cuba in the late 1890s. When her father is arrested, she pleads his case to a Spanish general, who falls in love with her. She spurns his advances and is herself thrown in jail for her revolutionary activities.

When reports of her imprisonment reach the New York papers, Evangelina becomes a cause cilhbre among the city's many society women. William Randolph Hearst, recognizing an opportunity, sends one of his star journalists, Karl Decker, to Havana on the pretense of interviewing her when in fact he is on a mission to effect her escape. As she tells him her story, the two find themselves falling in love. Back in America, Decker's wife is becoming increasingly suspicious of her husband's absences. After a frightening escape, Evangelina and Karl arrive in New York, where they are heralded as heroes. But then they must inevitably face Decker's wife and a decision that will affect all their lives.

Based on a true story, White Rose is part romance and love story and part spy thriller. Set in both the exotic, primitive world of Cuba and the high-society milieu of Manhattan in 1897, here is a story that will inspire the imagination and capture the heart.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 30, 1999
      The latest effort from novelist (A Cup of Tea) and screenwriter Ephron is based on the true story of Evangelina Cisneros, who escaped imprisonment in Cuba with the aid of American journalist Charles Duval (aka Karl Decker) during the 1890s, just before the Spanish-American War. The determined, pretty 19-year-old chose to accompany her father to the Isle of Pines after he was arrested by the Spanish government on political charges. When her father escaped, Evangelina was left to face 20 years in Ceuta, an African penal colony no prisoner had ever survived. William Randolph Hearst sent Decker, his top reporter, to rescue Evangelina; like a modern heroine, she rescued him right back, helping him to make it safely off the island and following him to the U.S., where she met with President McKinley. The attraction between Karl and Evangelina may or may not have roots in fact, but as Ephron tells it, Karl gives scant consideration to his wife and child at home in Washington, D.C. This is an intriguing story and an important one, with special appeal for political and feminist audiences, but Ephron fails to bring it fully to life. Her decision to rely on Evangelina's own words for some of the dialogue ensures the proper historic tone and surely posed an interesting challenge for the writer, but the results are sometimes stilted, though Ephron's own prose is supple. The novel is fleshed out with a good deal of Cuban history and a look at early American cultural imperialism. But it is developed in too sketchy a fashion to involve the reader's emotions; this is all the more disappointing since the subject matter is so promising. (Sept.) FYI: Ephron is writing the screenplay and will be executive producer for a film based on this book that has been optioned by Warner Brothers.

    • Library Journal

      May 15, 1999
      Yet another novel based on true events, this story features a beautiful young Cuban girl jailed as a revolutionary at the turn of the century and the reporter sent by William Randolph Hearst ostensibly to cover the story but in fact to spring her. Of course they fall in love, with lots of complications.

      Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      September 15, 1999
      This suspenseful novel, based on a true story, is set in 1897 Havana during Cuba's fight for freedom from Spanish rule. Evangelina Cisneros is the beautiful daughter of a Cuban revolutionary, just 19 years old and imprisoned on charges of insurrection, having angered the Spanish military governor by spurning his advances. A cause celebre among American women, her case receives the attention of William Randolph Hearst's newspaper, the "Journal." Star reporter Karl Decker is dispatched to Havana under an assumed name, ostensibly to interview Evangelina, but actually to organize her escape to America, an extremely dangerous mission. The two find themselves in a web of intrigue where no one can be trusted and there is no margin for error. They also find themselves falling in love, though Evangelina's lover fights by her father's side and Karl's wife awaits his return to the States. Evangelina questions the "Journal'"s motivation (is her story just good copy?), even as she assumes her unanticipated role in building U.S. support for the revolution. A memorable, beautifully written story. ((Reviewed September 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)

    • Library Journal

      August 1, 1999
      It is not surprising that famed newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst would want a reporter to interview imprisoned Cuban revolutionary Evangelina Cisneros: she is young, beautiful, and a woman. But Hearst, whose paper's motto is "While others talk, the Journal acts," has further plans for resourceful and intrepid newspaperman Karl Decker. Karl is not only to talk with Evangelina but to rescue her from prison and smuggle her out of Cuba to the United States, where she is expected to persuade President McKinley and Congress to send troops to Cuba in support of the rebels. The secrecy, danger, total reliance on one another, and heady atmosphere of a Caribbean island in revolt force Karl and Evangelina into an intimate relationship they could not foresee, making them question their ideals. Reading this novel, with its compact prose, is like watching the movie that director Luc Besson plans to make of it. From the author of A Cup of Tea; recommended for readers who like their historical fiction short and vivid. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/99.]--Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

      Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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