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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
The Forgotten Home Child has all the makings of a great historical fiction novel. Bringing to the foreground a lost part of Canadian history, Genevieve Graham delicately and respectfully paints a picture of the real-life experiences of British Home Children. She accurately depicts the horrors that many of these children lived through, showing the multiple levels of abuse and prejudice that the kids experienced.
Genevieve Graham perfected the dual narrative, crossing over multiple characters' perspectives and timelines seamlessly. She finds a way to make each character, in both the past and present-day narratives, to be original and multi-layered. Everyone contributes to the storyline in their own way. Often, in multi-narratives, authors aren't able to make all of the stories equally valuable and interesting - Genevieve Graham, however, excels in this matter.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I am grateful to Genevieve Graham for introducing me to a part of Canadian history that I had never heard of before!
I received this ARC for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Genevieve Graham perfected the dual narrative, crossing over multiple characters' perspectives and timelines seamlessly. She finds a way to make each character, in both the past and present-day narratives, to be original and multi-layered. Everyone contributes to the storyline in their own way. Often, in multi-narratives, authors aren't able to make all of the stories equally valuable and interesting - Genevieve Graham, however, excels in this matter.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I am grateful to Genevieve Graham for introducing me to a part of Canadian history that I had never heard of before!
I received this ARC for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
What a beautiful book! But it is hard to read at times so please be aware that this book is full of tough themes like child abuse, orphans, war, and tragedy. Overall, I really enjoyed reading about Winny and her resiliency despite the challenges life threw her way. I'm not Canadian, and had never heard of the British Home Children or Barnardo’s... but the US had similar initiatives and though the initial heart behind them may have been genuine, in actuality they were awful. Especially when I consider this in light as my role as a mom! But there is so much hope in Winny's story, as well as love and friendship, that the book is redeeming. I could see this being a fantastic book to discuss with a book club, and is all and all a great novel to get lost in on a rainy day!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
I received an advanced reader copy of The Forgotten Home Child from Simon and Schuster Canada via NetGalley, in return for my honest opinion.
The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham is a story about survival and making peace with your past. Winny is 97 years old and has just moved in with her granddaughter, Chrissie, and her great-grandson, Jamie. Curious about their roots, they start asking Winny about her life. Winny soon finds herself revealing long buried secrets.
In the 1930s, fifteen year old Winny leaves her abusive home. Living on the streets and starving, Winny meets Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward- homeless children trying to survive. Winny quickly becomes one of the group and soon these friends consider each other family.
One day, all of the children are picked up by the police and sent to live in orphanages- the girls in one, the boys in another. At the orphanages, the children are well taken care of and learn life skills. Eventually, to ease the burden of these orphans on the London government, the children are shipped off to Canada where they become poorly treated, indentured servants.
Winny slowly unfolds her life and those of Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward, in this wonderful, yet heartbreaking story based on true events. The author did an excellent job portraying the suffering and range of emotions that these characters endured. The author’s note about the British Home Children is eye opening and informative about events that many of us have never heard of. The Forgotten Home Child is available today, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, and is a must read for fans of Before We Were Yours and The Girls with No Names.
#genevievegraham #theforgottenhomechild #netgalley #arcs #advancedreadercopy #historicalfiction #historicalfictionbooks #fiction #fictionbooks #readin2020 #simonandschuster #simonandschustercanada #whatthebook #bookreviews #readersofinstagram #bookaholic
For more of my reviews visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/WhattheBook/ or http://whatthebook-reviews.tumblr.com/ or follow me on Instagram @whatthebook__.
The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham is a story about survival and making peace with your past. Winny is 97 years old and has just moved in with her granddaughter, Chrissie, and her great-grandson, Jamie. Curious about their roots, they start asking Winny about her life. Winny soon finds herself revealing long buried secrets.
In the 1930s, fifteen year old Winny leaves her abusive home. Living on the streets and starving, Winny meets Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward- homeless children trying to survive. Winny quickly becomes one of the group and soon these friends consider each other family.
One day, all of the children are picked up by the police and sent to live in orphanages- the girls in one, the boys in another. At the orphanages, the children are well taken care of and learn life skills. Eventually, to ease the burden of these orphans on the London government, the children are shipped off to Canada where they become poorly treated, indentured servants.
Winny slowly unfolds her life and those of Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward, in this wonderful, yet heartbreaking story based on true events. The author did an excellent job portraying the suffering and range of emotions that these characters endured. The author’s note about the British Home Children is eye opening and informative about events that many of us have never heard of. The Forgotten Home Child is available today, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, and is a must read for fans of Before We Were Yours and The Girls with No Names.
#genevievegraham #theforgottenhomechild #netgalley #arcs #advancedreadercopy #historicalfiction #historicalfictionbooks #fiction #fictionbooks #readin2020 #simonandschuster #simonandschustercanada #whatthebook #bookreviews #readersofinstagram #bookaholic
For more of my reviews visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/WhattheBook/ or http://whatthebook-reviews.tumblr.com/ or follow me on Instagram @whatthebook__.
One of my FB friends recommended this book and it sounded interesting. I had no idea about mass numbers of orphans were shipped from oversees to Canada during the war and essentially sold to Canadians as servants/workers. Such a heartbreaking story of the struggles these orphans endured and in some cases overcame. This book was well written with the main character flashing back to tell the stories Of the Forgotten Orphans. A truly eye opening read about a part of Canadian History that most people likely don’t know about 5/5
From a writing perspective this book was only okay. But the story that it’s based on, about the 100,000 children that were sent to Canada from Britain over the course of 100 years, to be indentured servants and who were treated horribly but those whose care they were in, is incredible.
The Forgotten Home Child does a beautiful job of showing just how dark Canadian history can be. I was shocked to have never heard this story before. This story takes you on a journey through two perspectives that follows five children living on the streets of London during the Industrial Revolution to their 'new opportunity' of living in Canada. Genevieve tastefully explores the stories of the Home Children, both good and bad, to bring to light this part of our history. The Forgotten Home Child is a great example of how Canadian history is just as deeply embedded with stories and lessons to learn as any other country.
I throughly enjoyed learning more about our history in this gripping tale and highly suggest to those that enjoy historical fiction to pick this one up. It had me happy crying by the end.
I throughly enjoyed learning more about our history in this gripping tale and highly suggest to those that enjoy historical fiction to pick this one up. It had me happy crying by the end.
medium-paced
This was a good story. I like historical fiction and this did not disappoint.
I don’t normally write reviews but this is a must read book. I couldn’t put it down from the first sentence until the last. My heart ached for the characters and what they went through. I never knew about this period of our history. Very eye opening. If you love Canadian historical fiction this has to be on your book list.
This book was heartbreaking and a little slow to start for me, but I soon was invested in Winnie, Jack, Mary, and the others and just wanted them to catch a break! My heart breaks for the real home children this book is based off of.