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A review by crathwell42
The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
2.0
Between 1869 and the late 1930s, over 100,000 children were sent to Canada from the British Isles during the child emigration movement. Motivated by social and economic factors, churches and philanthropic organizations sent orphaned, abandoned and pauper children to Canada (Australia and New Zealand were also part of this child migration movement). Many of the adults who worked with these philanthropic charities, believed that these children would have a better chance at a healthy and moral life in rural Canada. Where families would welcome them as a source of cheap farm labour or domestic help.
Many of these children were poorly treated and were abused, but other’s did experience better lives then they would have in the city slums. It should be noted here that the Evacuee Children - British children who were sent to the countryside, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand during WW2 - was a different movement. Those children returned home after the war to their families. Home Children almost never returned.
My great-grandmother and her sister were home children and they were lucky ones. Though she and her sister were split up (as many siblings were), they ended up living close enough to each other that they could visit and write letters. To my limited knowledge they ended up in good families who looked after them and treated them with kindness and compassion.
The Forgotten Home Child, by Genevieve Graham was rather lacklustre in telling this story.
It focuses on of 5 children who come to Canada as part of the movement in the 1930s. The book trips along at a really fast pace, making it a good ‘vacation’ read. It paints the picture of the story of the Home Children in very broad sweeping brush strokes and generalizations. Focusing more on the bad then the good but even then, glossing over abuse, rape and murder.
There’s a lot in this story that could make for a compelling read. The story is framed by a narrative of a woman finally telling her granddaughter and great-grandson the story of her life. A story of rags to relative riches. But the rose-tinted gloss over of the horrible historic abuses these children encountered makes this book very hot/cold. The author seems to struggle with writing a historical romance or a historical drama. There are a couple of characters that have swinging character shifts that they feel almost like two separate character that were blended into one.
There’s also something about it this novel that was simplistic for me. I think this is one of the instances where my history back ground fails me. I knew about the Home Children, from my own life and from studying it during my undergrad. This novel is written more as an entry into the subject and that made it too basic for me.
Many of these children were poorly treated and were abused, but other’s did experience better lives then they would have in the city slums. It should be noted here that the Evacuee Children - British children who were sent to the countryside, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand during WW2 - was a different movement. Those children returned home after the war to their families. Home Children almost never returned.
My great-grandmother and her sister were home children and they were lucky ones. Though she and her sister were split up (as many siblings were), they ended up living close enough to each other that they could visit and write letters. To my limited knowledge they ended up in good families who looked after them and treated them with kindness and compassion.
The Forgotten Home Child, by Genevieve Graham was rather lacklustre in telling this story.
It focuses on of 5 children who come to Canada as part of the movement in the 1930s. The book trips along at a really fast pace, making it a good ‘vacation’ read. It paints the picture of the story of the Home Children in very broad sweeping brush strokes and generalizations. Focusing more on the bad then the good but even then, glossing over abuse, rape and murder.
There’s a lot in this story that could make for a compelling read. The story is framed by a narrative of a woman finally telling her granddaughter and great-grandson the story of her life. A story of rags to relative riches. But the rose-tinted gloss over of the horrible historic abuses these children encountered makes this book very hot/cold. The author seems to struggle with writing a historical romance or a historical drama. There are a couple of characters that have swinging character shifts that they feel almost like two separate character that were blended into one.
There’s also something about it this novel that was simplistic for me. I think this is one of the instances where my history back ground fails me. I knew about the Home Children, from my own life and from studying it during my undergrad. This novel is written more as an entry into the subject and that made it too basic for me.