This book wasn't so bad to read although it did seem to drag on a little bit.
It was really interesting to read about how Rex was treated and how he then grew up to become the man he is now.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters were well developed. It had an interesting plot. I would be interested in reading more

This isn’t my usual type of book. But it was good and I enjoyed it all the same. It was good to read and well written. It flowed well and was easy to read

The Last Orphan by Rex Wade was absolutely heart-breaking. Kevin and Bruce were his brothers, and Rex was the middle child. He and his brother were taken from the woman they believed to be their mother and sent to live in Australia with the promise of a better life. Life does not always end as promised however and it wasn’t long before they realised for themselves that those promises were empty. Rex felt cheated and angry and he began to rebel. He get in trouble and turned to alcohol in an attempt to forget the trauma they suffered. They suffered hardship and abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to be caring and protecting them. They were only children, sent to Australia from Britain as part of the Children’s Migrant Programme. This programme was supposed to end in the late sixties but Rex and his brother migrated in the early 1970’s. The British government practised this forced migration of children for four decades. What benefit they thought it served is beyond me but that, like many other barbaric practices they forced on people in Britain and in their colonies served to do nothing other than destroy the lives of all those concerned. Rex Wade wanted answers. He wanted to know his mother and what happened to her. The British government robbed him of this. The Last Orphan is a very tough read. It is well written and I felt as if I was sitting, speaking to Rex at times as his words are so heart felt. It’s a book that will remain with me long after reading the final chapter.

What if you discovered at the age of six that the woman you were sure was your mother, wasn't. Even more disconcerting, what if one year later, the man you considered your father walks out and is replaced by an overweight, balding, mean, bully, who initiates a descent into abusive hell for you. This is the life that Rex Wade lived every day, until one day a seeming glimpse of paradise is offered into the shining farmland of Australia. Unfortunately, what Rex finds in Australia is just as bad if not worse than what he leaves behind in England. Readers will follow along as Rex struggles to discover who he is and build some kind of life for himself.

The Last Orphan
The heartbreaking true story of Britain's last Child Migrant

by Rex Wade


Mirror Books

Biographies & Memoirs , Nonfiction (Adult)

Pub Date 21 Mar 2019


I am reviewing a copy of The Last Orphan through Mirror Books and Netgalley:


It was the early 70’s and Rex and his brother Kevin were believed to be the last orphans to be transported to Australia under the Child’s Migrant’s Programe, a programe that started in the 1930’s and was supposed to have ended in 1967!




The boys were made to believe they were going to have a better life on the other side of the world, not aware of the cruel world that they would face!



But soon they will find out!



In this book Rex, a survivor will tell a story, his story of childhood innocence as well as unforgettable abuse at the hands of the ones who were charged to care for him. He will share of his journey back to England to find out what really happened to his Mother and find out why he was sent away in the first place!



I found The Last Orphan to be a powerfully written and heart wrenching story of abuse at the hands of the very people who were tasked with providing for and keeping these children safe!


I give The Last Orphan five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

This was difficult to get into in the beginning due to it being written in the first person.it tells the true but harrowing story of Rex Wade who was sent to Australia in 1970 as an orphan.
It offers a range of emotions from anger to the situation to a macabre sense of wanting to see how he ended up?

A very difficult book to review as it is written in the first person. Rex Wade tells of his harrowing life sent to Australia as an orphan in 1970. it beggars belief that this practice was carried on by the British government. The book made me angry and it is a difficult read but all respect to the author for relating his story. I don't know how to rate this book so I give it 5*. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC. Reviewed on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Mirror Books through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Last Orphan is a raw and true account of Rex Wade, the middle sibling to brothers Bruce and Kevin. This story details life as an orphan and all the effects this has on a young child.

After the woman he believed to have been his mother falls pregnant, Rex and his younger brother - Kevin are removed from her care and promised a better life in sunny Australia. A life - as the book so describes - of oranges and sunshine, getting to ride horses to school while admiring all the different animals found in Australia. When they arrive to their new home though, reality is nothing like the picture they were promised.

Rex becomes a rebel. He pushes through a life of abuse by immersing himself in alcohol and cigarettes. Having started at such a young age, he easily grows into a troubled alcoholic struggling with addiction.

I immediately had to dive deeper into some research as soon as the last pages of this book were read. This raw account of one mans life, is heartbreaking. And yet there are thousands of children who are faced with the same life challenges. All Rex longs for is an apology.

This review is going to be very short. I don’t feel that I’m qualified to review Mr. Wade’s story of his life. It was written in first person. It’s almost as he was sitting in front of me telling me the story. It’s a heartbreaking story about a practice that I knew nothing about. Why would a country think it’s ok to take advantage of its youngest, most vulnerable citizens? Sad. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

The author wrote a raw and honest account of what life was like for him as one of the last orphans sent to Australia under the Child Migrants Programme in the 1970s. He was abused by those that were supposed to be caring for him. This memoir shows the bravery it took to survive such a horrible childhood.

I volunteered to read this book before publication. In 1970 2 brothers were sent from the U.K. to Australia as part of the child migration act. They were the last children to be sent. Before leaving and upon arriving in Australia, both children suffered severe abuse and trauma. This is the story of one of the brothers. It's one of the saddest books that I have ever read. It also makes me very angry at the failure of the institutions to help him find his mother! It's truly astounding how this man suffered as a boy. I couldn't put it down.

What an awful book. I hated this book from beginning to the end
A huge disappointment. I was expecting more from this book

This book was very sad but very different than most biographies that I've read lately. This book was about an orphan child in the 70's who got transported from Britain to Australia with the promise of a better life than the one he was living at the time. Boy were they wrong however. Thing's weren't really to great for Rex at his current home being beaten by his father but they weren't too bad either he had a mother who loved him. However things were a little stressful so when Rex's adoptive mother hears that he can be having a better life she jumps at the chance. That is when all things go downhill. Rex gets sent all the way across the world to a place which was though to be much better, however all he got there was abused and berated, and this time his mother was not there to help soften the blows. I found this book terrible sad it seems that every that could go wrong for Rex did and its hard to imagine all the pain that he must have went through. This was a pretty good book the only thing I didn't like about it was I found the story a little hard to follow and I felt like I was thrown in the middle. The progression wasn't what I was used to when reading this type of book. However minus that little criticism I really enjoyed the story and I'm very glad that I got the chance to check this one out.