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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Initial thought: why isn’t this taught in schools?!
Taking place primarily in Canada, Ms Graham once again features a lesser known part of history - that of the “Home Children”.
While it is dual timeline, most of the focus is on the past storyline where the reader meets Winny, Mary, Jack, Edward, and Cecil - a ragtag group of friends that find a family amongst themselves. They are scooped up off the streets of England and sent overseas where they have been “bought” by Canadian families in need of help on their farms. Know as “Home Children”, this was usually not the new life they were promised.
While the topic is clearly a heavy one, it is handled with care and well researched. Additionally, the characters are well written - you’ll love some and you’ll loathe some.
Finally, as usual, the authors note is amazing. So informative and succinct. I never skip hers and recommend you don’t either!
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Book Review - The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
A historical fiction novel based on the compilation of true stories of children sent from orphanages and work houses in Britain to Canada. Between 1869 to 1948, over 120,000 children were transported. As a Canadian I had never heard about this part of our history so I was intrigued and horrified.
8 year old Winny meets siblings Jack and Mary, Edward and Cecil on the streets of London after she left home due to physical abuse by her mother’s boyfriend. Together they create their own version of family and try to keep each other safe. They are caught by the police , separated and sent to Dr. Barnardo’s homes for orphans. They are well cared for and provided with schooling and trades training. Eventually they are told they are being shipped to Canada for a fresh start. In Canada, farmers have paid to become wards of the children. However, the majority viewed this as an opportunity to get labourers. The prevailing attitude was that the children were dirty, contaminated street urchins. The children are indentured labor. There was little oversight of the arrangements and the children lived in barns, sheds and experienced physical and sexual abuse. Many of them died.
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat”. Mother Teresa
The story is heartbreaking made even more so by knowing it is based on true experiences. The children grasp for kindness and connection wherever they can find it; mainly through other Home Children. The commitment to find each other sustains the children in their new homes. The children are bright, and plucky and I was rooting for them to get away from their circumstances.
Graham does a great job describing the shame the children embed in their identity from all of their experiences and how they are treated at large. They can’t hide who they are because their accents give them away. The plot follows Winny and Jack’s story from childhood to present day in an alternating narrative. It highlights the amazing resilience of children and their ability to survive abuse and hardship.
This is a moving story filled with heartbreak, trauma and shame. It angered me to learn that on top of the atrocities of our treatment of Indigenous people, Canada has another unacknowledged history of abusive treatment of British children sent here for a fresh start. I am grateful to Graham for shining a light on this part of our history. I don’t feel that you can change unless you acknowledge your past so you don’t keep repeating history.
If you liked The Throwaway Children or Orphan Train you will love this book.
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-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
A fantastic story about a forgotten chapter in Canadian history. I didn't want to put the book down or for it to end.
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Oh man...this sat on my Kindle app for months. I worked at it little by little, not because it's not good (quite the opposite in fact) but simply because the story is so heartbreaking and unfortunately it's a work of fiction about true events. This is my second book by this author and I have another one of hers on my Kindle...yes I like the way she tells a story. The Forgotten Home Child is about England's scheme to clean up the streets by sending poor, unwanted children overseas to be taken care of by families. The problem was that the majority of these children suffered greatly at the hands of these people who were supposed to take care of them. Most of them were treated as indentured servants with no rights and no recourse. Forgotten by everyone basically, no follow-up from the agency who shipped them off and definitely no more than a mouth to feed by the people who "cared" for them.
There are two different timelines, and the story is told by Winnie starting in 2018 when she's 97 and in 1936 when she's 15. I love books with different timelines and different POV's and this one didn't disappoint.
At the end of the book Ms. Graham provides a lot of insight into why she wrote the book and how she did her research. Many heartbreaking stories that apparently are only coming to light in recent years because of things like ancestry.ca. Unfortunately a lot of history is already lost because people were ashamed of the stigma of being a "home child" and therefore took their heritage/stories to their graves.
Any book that teaches and opens our eyes to injustices past and present is typically a 5 star for me.
Excellent book!
Thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Shuster Canada for the ARC and allowing me to write an unbiased review.
#NetGalley
#TheForgottenHomeChild
There are two different timelines, and the story is told by Winnie starting in 2018 when she's 97 and in 1936 when she's 15. I love books with different timelines and different POV's and this one didn't disappoint.
At the end of the book Ms. Graham provides a lot of insight into why she wrote the book and how she did her research. Many heartbreaking stories that apparently are only coming to light in recent years because of things like ancestry.ca. Unfortunately a lot of history is already lost because people were ashamed of the stigma of being a "home child" and therefore took their heritage/stories to their graves.
Any book that teaches and opens our eyes to injustices past and present is typically a 5 star for me.
Excellent book!
Thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Shuster Canada for the ARC and allowing me to write an unbiased review.
#NetGalley
#TheForgottenHomeChild
I'm not crying, you're crying! This is a heartbreaking but beautifully written book. Be sure to have a box of tissues at the ready. I had a hard time putting this book down...
Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada/Simon & Schuster for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in March 2020.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada/Simon & Schuster for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in March 2020.
What a dark time in Canada’s History to allow this to happen to children? To think it could still be going on today just a little differently is sad.