My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: The Lost Orphan
Author: Stacey Halls
Format: ebook (NetGalley)
Pages: 352
Publication Date: April 7, 2020
Categories: Historical Fiction, Motherhood
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
A mother’s love knows no bounds…
London, 1754. Six years after leaving her newborn, Clara, at London’s Foundling Hospital, young Bess Bright returns to reclaim the illegitimate daughter she has never really known. Dreading the worst—that Clara has died in care—the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl—and why.
Less than a mile from Bess’s lodgings in a quiet town house, a wealthy widow barely ventures outside. When her close friend—an ambitious doctor at the Foundling Hospital—persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her young daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her—and will soon tear her carefully constructed world apart.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Georgian London, The Lost Orphan explores families and secrets, class and power, and how the pull of motherhood cuts across them all.
Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.
This is not a title I would have requested on my own but I was sent a link to it by the publisher’s rep and I’m so glad I decided to read it.
Bess Bright is a girl who has a hard life selling shrimp in London. It’s a tough life she leads in one of London’s poor communities and she finds herself pregnant. There is no question about giving up the child to the London’s Foundling Hospital but she has plans of coming back for her baby girl when she has made enough money to get her back.
When she does earn money, it’s not enough and not only that her daughter is missing. Will Bess be able to find her daughter again?
- The writing is so descriptive that I felt myself transported to 1754, London. Life for Bess is hard and she hawks cooked shrimp with her dad, Abe. Just the description of how the shrimp are cooked and the hot water dripping down Bess’s neck introduced me to Bess’s hardships in life. London is hard for those with no means and power. But everything about the book was well written and I could imagine life for Bess and Alexandra in London.
- The author included diversity in this book which was wonderful. Bess’s best friend is Keziah, a free black woman in London. We get a very small glimpse of her life as well.
- The alternating points of view between Bess and Alexandra paints a distinct portrait of two women, two different stations in life, tied together by a child. I loved how we get to know each woman, none of them perfect by any means, each having to live out some trauma in their life.
- It’s a happy ending, thank goodness. I was a bit emotional by the end of this book. I was happy for everyone!
- It has a happy ending and I loved it but I wondered how realistic that would be? It did involve child kidnapping on both sides. But I guess that’s why it’s fiction!
- At times I would questions both Alexandra and Bess – they both wanted the best for Charlotte, but it made me wonder which situation kept the child safer. We saw both sides but in the end it worked out. As much as Alexandra’s wealth provided a well cared for life for Charlotte, that child was a prisoner! And yet if she lived with Bess, poverty could imprison Charlotte in a way as well. 😞
- Triggers: abuse, kidnapping
This was a very enjoyable book and a quick read at that. Every time I read historical fiction, it reminds me I should read more of it! I was very drawn to both Alexandra and Bess, their different lives and how they both laid claims to Charlotte. In the end, Charlotte chose who she wanted to live with and thank goodness it was a happy ending, which made me want to shed a tear. If you like historical fiction, you may enjoy this one!
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