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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
This was a great read. I love reading a book that feels the real history, not what is taught in school. This book definitely fit the bill! The lives of Winnie, Mary, Jack, Edward, and Cecil was an amazing story and I hope many people read this book!
Winny is an old lady now, living with her granddaughter and great-grandson in Ontario. When her granddaughter discovers and old trunk, Winny goes down memory lane and tells her family about her life, a story she’s never told anyone: living on the streets in London with her best friends, moving to an orphanage, getting shipped to Canada as little more than slaves, everything terrible that happened to them there, and then becoming an adult and making her life...
Home Children is another part of Canadian history we’re not taught at school. I appreciate Genevieve Graham not glossing over and making everyone nice polite Canadians. There were clearly some dark sides here too, and it’s nice to see them sometimes.
I loved the first parts, during their youths on the farms, but I was less enthused by the last third. At some point, it felt like she was just holding onto lies for no other reason than to keep up the suspense, so it started to feel contrived. And even though Graham is a romance writer, the romance part was a bit too much, in my opinion. I think this would have been better if it had just stayed a historical novel without inserting any star-crossed lovers in it.
Still enjoyed it though.
Home Children is another part of Canadian history we’re not taught at school. I appreciate Genevieve Graham not glossing over and making everyone nice polite Canadians. There were clearly some dark sides here too, and it’s nice to see them sometimes.
I loved the first parts, during their youths on the farms, but I was less enthused by the last third. At some point, it felt like she was just holding onto lies for no other reason than to keep up the suspense, so it started to feel contrived. And even though Graham is a romance writer, the romance part was a bit too much, in my opinion. I think this would have been better if it had just stayed a historical novel without inserting any star-crossed lovers in it.
Still enjoyed it though.
An absorbing, educational read. Based on true events. Shocking what happened to these children.
Oh my goodness, all the stars on this one! Not only have I never heard of the British Home Children, but this is my first book by this author and she can write! The research she must have done to bring this story to fruition was quite thorough and she explains a little bit about her search at the end. While this story is fictional, many of the events in this story probably happened in one form or another to real British Home Children and Genvieve does an amazing job at bringing their stories to our awareness in these pages. I found myself hearing present-day Winny telling her story to her granddaughter and great-grandson and although present-day Jack is no longer alive, I could hear him telling his part of the tales. There was some going back and forth between past and present, but most of the story took place in the past and the transitions were seamless for me. I found myself tearing up even early in the story, but was definitely sobbing by the end. An amazingly powerful book and one that I hope becomes more widely read.
Special thanks to #GenevieveGraham, #NetGalley, and #SimonandSchusterCanada for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Special thanks to #GenevieveGraham, #NetGalley, and #SimonandSchusterCanada for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The book is based on the sad history of thousands of poverty stricken children transported from England to Canada over a 70 year period to start a supposedly better life. What transpired was anything but. These poor children (who were not all orphans but primarily children whose parents could not keep them due to their financial situation) essentially became indentured servants “sold” mostly to poor farmers seeking cheap labor.
The Forgotten Home Child is about Winny and her friends Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward. Their experiences as Home Children in Canada varied from hard to inhumane. This touching book alternates between the past and present day when Winny, now 97 years old, finally reveals her past to her family after being ashamed of her background as one of the British Home Children. We learn about the horrors all the children experienced and how life progressed for them.
Books of this kind are hard to read but interesting, moving and valuable as it educates us to often unknown parts of history which happened not so long ago. The author, in her ending Note To Readers, lets us know that thanks to the popularity of genealogy, it is now known that approximately 12 percent of Canada’s population (more than four million people) are descended from British Home Children. Astounding!
Review posted at MicheleReader.com
The Forgotten Home Child is about Winny and her friends Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward. Their experiences as Home Children in Canada varied from hard to inhumane. This touching book alternates between the past and present day when Winny, now 97 years old, finally reveals her past to her family after being ashamed of her background as one of the British Home Children. We learn about the horrors all the children experienced and how life progressed for them.
Books of this kind are hard to read but interesting, moving and valuable as it educates us to often unknown parts of history which happened not so long ago. The author, in her ending Note To Readers, lets us know that thanks to the popularity of genealogy, it is now known that approximately 12 percent of Canada’s population (more than four million people) are descended from British Home Children. Astounding!
Review posted at MicheleReader.com
Rounded up. I was gripped from the beginning. Great audiobook on an unexpected topic.
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-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:
Complicated
Just an excellent example of how historical fictional can entertain and inform. I never knew about the British Home Children, and now thanks to Ms. Graham's in-depth research and contact with Home Children relatives, we come away from her book not only with heightened understanding but also keenly aware of yet another shameful chapter in Canadian history. Interview with Ms. Graham here: bit.ly/GenevieveGrahamInterview
adventurous
challenging
reflective
sad