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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
While the story and characters are incredibly interesting, and I did learn a lot about this forgotten chapter of Canadian history, I did have a few notable problems with the book. For the most part, the writing was good, but the dialogue was a bit poorly written and unnatural. The scenes set in the present also felt off and somewhat unrealistic. On a slightly more odd note, my mom and I both read this book and both had an issue with the time period. I don't know what it was, or maybe it was just us, but, especially in the earlier chapters, I kept getting confused because my brain kept forgetting that it was set in the 1930s, jumping instead to somewhere between 1890 and 1910. I mentioned to my mom that the rural Canadian farm setting gave me Anne of Green Gables vibes (though the stories have very little in common) so maybe that was part of it. There was also a lot of "telling" instead of "showing", and some awkward infodumps of real historical facts, which were then repeated in the Author's Note (it would have been much better to just have these in the Author's Note). Overall, this was a decent and definitely informative book, but nothing special.
3.5 rounded up because I love the history of the Home Children in Canada. Mixed feelings about this book. I felt like the characters in the first half came across as archetypes the author used to represent the various types of experiences Home Children faced. Towards the end the characters became more developed. I appreciate her wanting to bring awareness to this part of Canada’s history but at points the story reads more as history lesson than moving fiction. Perhaps my standards/expectations were too steep though. I felt it could have been a bit better.
The entire time I was reading The Forgotten Home Child, I could not forget that the events in the fictional story, happened to over 100,000 children during the decades that poverty stricken children were sent from England to live and work in Canada. What was supposed to be a better life for these homeless orphans turned out to be a death sentence for many of them. The majority lived in worse conditions than they left, working as slaves and indentured servants, starved, beaten, abused in every way, forgotten by the country they left and despised by the country that was supposed to give them a better life.
This story follows five homeless friends, Winny, Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward and other children, sent from Dr. Barnardo's England homes for orphaned children, to live with families in Canada. Thinking that they were going to work as housemaids for families or to practice the trades they learned at the Barnardo homes, in reality, Winny sleeps on hay, in a sheep barn, often missing meals, being beaten, without proper clothes and shoes, and treated as worthless and unwanted except for the constant work she can do for the family that "bought" her. Mary's fate is even worse, hard as it is to believe and the boys barely escape from their "master", with their lives.
All these children live with the shame and stigma of being "Home Children" shunned by the people in their new country, with nothing at all to their name. Many are just worked until they die, neglected and abused, with nowhere to turn. Winny tells her story finally, at the age of ninety seven, when her granddaughter and great grandson start asking questions. Winny has always been ashamed of her background and what had happened to her as a child, as if it was somehow her fault.
Now light is being shed on this part of Canada's past. As many as a quarter of Canada's population can trace their ancestry back to Home Children that came from England. This story puts faces to the plight of those children and what they endured.
Published March 3rd 2020. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC.
This story follows five homeless friends, Winny, Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward and other children, sent from Dr. Barnardo's England homes for orphaned children, to live with families in Canada. Thinking that they were going to work as housemaids for families or to practice the trades they learned at the Barnardo homes, in reality, Winny sleeps on hay, in a sheep barn, often missing meals, being beaten, without proper clothes and shoes, and treated as worthless and unwanted except for the constant work she can do for the family that "bought" her. Mary's fate is even worse, hard as it is to believe and the boys barely escape from their "master", with their lives.
All these children live with the shame and stigma of being "Home Children" shunned by the people in their new country, with nothing at all to their name. Many are just worked until they die, neglected and abused, with nowhere to turn. Winny tells her story finally, at the age of ninety seven, when her granddaughter and great grandson start asking questions. Winny has always been ashamed of her background and what had happened to her as a child, as if it was somehow her fault.
Now light is being shed on this part of Canada's past. As many as a quarter of Canada's population can trace their ancestry back to Home Children that came from England. This story puts faces to the plight of those children and what they endured.
Published March 3rd 2020. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC.
A nice piece of historical fiction about the legacy of British Home Children.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a lot of things. Love story. Epic journey. History lesson. Family drama. Heart break. It tells a piece of Canadian history I knew nothing about and find myself ashamed of. There are so many facets of this story that make the mother's heart in me weep -- and oh, did I weep. (Put the book down to ugly cry, kind of weeping). The bulk of the book is set in the past -- which is good, because the present bits didn't read as well. (Until Part 5, that is -- what an ending). A beautiful story, so beautifully told, in a way that makes you both think and feel. And even though my life is so much different from the lives of the central characters there was a lot in here to connect with. Were I still an English teacher, I could certainly see myself teaching this book someday.
4.5 stars. Wow, what a shock to learn this about our country’s history. Heartbreaking and yet an inspirational story of survival and love and family bonds that don’t always come from blood.