Orphan version of Titanic. Told in past and present tense Winnie tells of her childhood in Ireland and London and what brought her to where she is today (at a wonderful 97 years of age!). An emotional story about being a British Home Child and what life was like for her and her 4 friends, the secrets they shared, their sorrows and joys. This book will leave you thinking about so many things, especially about how the world has changed.

Thank you NetGalley, Genevieve Graham and Simon & Schuster for this edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
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Once again Genevieve has done it!
She is a wonderful storyteller and gets you wanting to know more about the topics she writes about. Even though it is not an easy topic to touch on she made sure there was no stone un-turned and she brought the children's story to life.
I had no clue about home children and what their roles were, there are some topics that were touched in here that may be triggering to some.

I had no idea that Canada, too, had their share of orphaned kids sent from England, to become servants or as in this case, basically slaves. It follows five children as they adjust to their new life, being shunned as "home children". Its a heartbreaking story.

There are some books that just touch your soul and this book was one of the them. Through most of the book I had to have a tissue in hand as this was a tear jerker. The thing that really resonated was that this novel was based on an actual events.
This was a masterfully written novel. The characters were so nuanced that you could almost expected them to walk right out of the pages. Highly recommend and is on top of my re-read list.

A moving story based on real events, we meet Winny, Mary, Jack, Edward and Cecil, “home children”. These children were poor, often orphaned and on the streets of London. Over 100,000 were sold as indentured to families in Canada, most on farms and used for labor. Often brutalized, but with nowhere to turn, they were able to leave at 18, if they made it through sleeping in barns and treated like chattel. I loved Winny’s strength, not just to plow through but to make something of her self, become a nurse, and keep promises. The home children program started in 1869, and went on until 1948, with the promise of better lives often false. The author researched this part of Canadian history that was not well known, and this novel is the result. I highly recommend this novel, for its historical perspective and the characters.

This is my second book that I've read by Genevieve Graham and just like "At the Mountains Edge" I loved it. It's not only fascinating to read about my own Canadian history and view it through a new lens, but Genevieve writes such captivating characters with interesting stories.
This book was difficult to read at times and I had to put it down. It was emotional. I did not know about this dark time in my country's past. What a strong heart-wrenching story. Genevieve breathed such life into it and I felt things so strongly. A great many of the things that happened to these characters were taken from real stories the author gathered from real Home Children descendants. It's shocking. These are important stories to tell.
I want to just go and gobble up all of her books now.

Reminiscent of Orphan Train,  Genevieve Graham's novel, The Forgotten Home Child, begins in London. In order to clean up the city, destitute children from the streets, orphanages, and homes of London are collected and transported by ship across the Atlantic to live with families in Canada as indentured servants, until they are 18 years old. This novel tells of the hardships and successes some endured during this time.  The characters were well developed and I enjoyed following their story.  I found the subject of the British Home Children, one I was unaware of, to be quite interesting. Even though the ending seemed a bit rushed, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher,  Simon and Schuster, for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was so gripping, I was taken in from the first few chapters. Amazing that people will now become aware of the home children which was such a historical event. The writing flowed and you feel as though you are there with the characters. Can’t wait to recommend this book and I hope to read more by this author.

As I finish this story, I am crying. Sad tears and happy tears and awed tears. Tears that make me grateful for my family and my home and the life I have lived. The Forgotten Home Child, by Genevieve Graham, is a deeply moving and amazing story about the capacity of the human spirit to not only survive, but to love, even in the midst of tragedy. The story is told from the perspectives of Winny and Jack, two children taken to Canada from London around the time of the Great Depression. There were five friends: the two of them, plus Mary, Edward, and Cecil. They had spent time living on the streets of London together, simply trying to survive by whatever means necessary. When they are separated and taken to orphanages, they promise to find each other again. Three years later, they do just that, aboard an ocean liner for Canada, where they will be brought to "good families'. However, instead, they find abuse and neglect and more pain. Winny promises to find her friends, as does Jack, and this is the story of how that happens. Based on true events, and painstakingly heartfelt, this book will take you there: to the farms, sleeping in barns with sheep, to the railway lines, jumping from train to train, to life as we know it now, and everything that means. I picked this book up about five hours ago and didn't put it down until now, only when I finished it. Go get it. Read it. You won't be disappointed.
I received a free copy of this story from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher (Simon and Schuster) through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

When I picked up this book, I honestly did not know what to expect. I had read the description of the book on Goodreads a few times, but I still didn’t understand what I was about to read. The Forgotten Home Child took me on a heartbreaking trip through a dark period of Canadian history that I knew nothing about. It opened my eyes to something I couldn’t imagine happening, and it’s made me want to do some more reading on the subject.

The Forgotten Home Child starts in the present day when Winny’s granddaughter and great-grandson start to ask her questions about their family’s history. Winny never planned on telling anyone about her tragic past, but she realizes that she has to tell her family the truth. The book then goes back to 1936, and we see Winny as a young girl living on the streets with Jack, Mary, Edward, and Cecil, her group of friends that became her family when she ran away from her abusive home at age fifteen. The book goes back and forth between Winny’s and Jack’s perspective as they experience the orphanage; Dr. Barnardo’s; Canada, where they suffer unimaginable abuse as Home Children; and their adult lives. The book periodically goes back to the present day, but the majority of it takes place in the past.

What made this book stand out to me was the characters. I thought that both Winny and Jack were incredibly brave, and I was impressed by the bit of optimism they had left, even though their past experiences gave them no reason to be optimistic. I thought both characters were clever, and my heart kept breaking for them with every tragedy they experienced. I also loved how determined they were to see their friends again and how they never stopped searching for each other.

I also loved how captivating this story was, and I had a hard time putting it down once I started reading. I wanted to know what happened next, I was rooting for the characters to overcome the latest obstacle thrown their way, and I was invested in their futures. I was especially drawn to Jack’s story because there was a bit more mystery around what he was going to end up doing and where his life would take him. I was also interested in Winny’s story, but since the present-day sections were told from her perspective, I had a bit more of an idea about how her life would unfold.

One thing I should note is that there are some scenes in this book that are difficult to read. The Home Children were abused by their mistresses and masters, and they were essentially indentured servants. Some of the things that happened, especially with Jack and the other boys, makes me shudder just to think about. I think this book is important for people to read because it brings light to such a dark and terrible period in Canada’s history, but it’s not easy to read about.

Overall, I’m very grateful that I read this book because, without it, I wouldn’t know about Home Children and all these terrible things that happened to them. I’m already planning on buying this book for a few of my friends because they like historical fiction, and I think that more people need to know about this dark period in Canadian history.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, Simon and Schuster, for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

This was a historical novel about a time when orphaned and homeless children were taken off the streets of London and shipped to Canada to work on farms and in homes. Some were adopted, many were abused in various ways. This story took place in the. Great depression. However, British children were shipped off to Canada between 1869 and 1948. As many as 120,000 children might have experienced this.

Winnifred is a 97 year old woman that has just begun to tell her family, grand daughter and great grandson, her family history. She has been ashamed of that history her whole life but as she nears the end of her life, she feels the need to share her story. This story is one of six friends that traveled to a new life in Canada. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. The characters are well developed and you can feel the love and concern they have for one another. This is a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend it.

A wonderful fictional story based on Canadian history!
Set in the 1930's The Forgotten Home Child takes us on a unforgettable journey to England where poverty surged due to lack of work and over-population. Children were sold and shipped to Canadian families to help alleviate the problem.
What was promised to be a better life was anything but. These "home children" arrived to an unwelcoming Canada where most faced horrific abuse while working in harsh conditions on Canadian farms.
The author has woven the story around a group of friends whose story is heartbreaking and deserves to be told.
Genevieve Graham has stated "My goal, my passion, is to breathe life back into Canadian history"! With the Forgotten Home Child I feel she has done just that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

I have been a long time fan of Genevieve Graham and honestly, she hasn’t written a bad book yet in my opinion! She writes with such authority and knowledge on her topics that it’s always an easy yes to read one of her books!

She is a Canadian author and her books are mostly set in Canada which isn’t exactly the first place I think of when I think of historical fiction. The most obvious choices are England or France so whenever I pick up one of her books I know I am going to be reading something totally different when it comes to setting.

Her latest release is less about romance and more about the tragic lives and stories of orphans during a dark time in history and I was thrilled to see where this story would take me!

Summary
2018

At ninety-seven years old, Winnifred Ellis knows she doesn’t have much time left, and it is almost a relief to realize that once she is gone, the truth about her shameful past will die with her. But when her great-grandson Jamie, the spitting image of her dear late husband, asks about his family tree, Winnifred can’t lie any longer, even if it means breaking a promise she made so long ago…

1936

Fifteen-year-old Winny has never known a real home. After running away from an abusive stepfather, she falls in with Mary, Jack, and their ragtag group of friends roaming the streets of Liverpool. When the children are caught stealing food, Winny and Mary are left in Dr. Barnardo’s Barkingside Home for Girls, a local home for orphans and forgotten children found in the city’s slums. At Barkingside, Winny learns she will soon join other boys and girls in a faraway place called Canada, where families and better lives await them.

But Winny’s hopes are dashed when she is separated from her friends and sent to live with a family that has no use for another daughter. Instead, they have paid for an indentured servant to work on their farm. Faced with this harsh new reality, Winny clings to the belief that she will someday find her friends again.

Inspired by true events, The Forgotten Home Child is a moving and heartbreaking novel about place, belonging, and family—the one we make for ourselves and its enduring power to draw us home.

Review
While this is a fictional story, it is based on actual historical events, children from England being shipped to (in this case) Canada where they were promised better lives but the reality of that promise was far from ‘better’. This was something practiced more often than not, during times of poverty and uncertainty. My own grandfather was sent with his brother to live in an orphanage in Oregon during the Depression because their mother couldn’t afford to keep them when she had 3 other children to care for so she sent the 2 youngest to live in an orphanage in one of our larger cities and he often talked a lot about the conditions and lies told by orphanages. So a story like this really caught my eye because it had a personal connection for me.

Graham is such a great romance writer and I was a little unsure of how this book would play out because the topic was so much more weighty but I was incredibly satisfied with this story and couldn’t have been happier with how it was told. Yes it was sad at times and you might want to have tissues handy, but in the end, it was an all around well written touching novel.

The amount of research Graham does with her novels is always amazing but this book really highlighted her knowledge and research. I just love how she keeps it Canada specific and I can only imagine how much time she spent researching the orphan stories and history. I can’t emphasize that enough in this book! I don’t normally read the author notes at the end of a book unless the content really appeals to me and in this case I recommend reading the author notes. It was a very interesting read.

This story is told in two time periods and I thought the transition between the two periods was fairly seamless and connected nicely together. The story was touching on so many levels but not all of it was cupcakes and rainbows, readers should be aware that the author doesn’t shy away from abuse that happened to these children. It was a novel that wasn’t always easy to read because of that, but in the end I felt satisfied with it even though I had to take a breather.

Book Info and Rating
Kindle Edition, 384 pages
Published March 3rd 2020 by Simon & Schuster
ASIN B07TD6G83V
Free review copy provided by publisher, Simon & Schuster, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Genre: historical fiction

THE FORGOTTEN HOME CHILD is set in England and Canada during the depression. With poverty rampant throughout England many children were left to fend for themselves on the streets of London. Some found refuge in homes like Barnardo’s home for boys and girls. Many of the orphans or abandoned children were sent to Canada. The children were to work for the families that requested them for a set. Naturally there was a fee paid to acquire these children. Although guidelines were in place there wasn’t any actual follow up made after the children were placed. As in real life the young people in The Forgotten Home Child were mistreated. They were forced to work and live under deplorable conditions. They were malnourished and beaten.
Winny is now an elderly woman in her nineties. She decides it is time to share her past with her granddaughter and great grandson. The story goes back to the 1930’s when Winny meets Jack and his gang that live on the street. They band together to survive the harsh life. After a stay at Barnardo’s
Winny and Mary, Jack’s sister, they are sent to Canada. Jack and his friends are destined to go to Canada as well and end up on the same ship.
I thought this story was well told. I knew children from England were sent to Canada during the war but not as early as the late 1800’s.
Some parts were hard to read and I found myself closing the book and taking a breather. As the story became more hopeful I was able to relax and enjoy the story.
Historical fiction is one of my genre. Nice to see a reference to a location that I know well. I won’t say where but most people that know Etobicoke, Ontario will recognize this spot.
I like books that send me to the internet to do further research which THE FORGOTTEN HOME CHILD did.
Would recommend this to fans of Jennifer Robson.

The Forgotten Home Child is and inspiring and yet sad story. I love when historical fiction takes me in a journey that teaches me what I didn't know I didn't know. This story had me hooked from the first word to the last. I was sad that there was not a happy ending for each British child sent to Canada. I am so glad I was chosen to receive a free arc of this wonderful book. The review is my own random thoughts

One of my favorite parts of this book were the author's notes at the back of the book. After reading them it is fascinating for me to now think back to the fictional story line and know that all of the terrible things that were happening to the characters happened to real life children. Between 1869 and 1948 around 120,000 British Home Children were sent to Canada. Of these children, 75% of them suffered some kind of abuse and neglect in their new home. It's just so heartbreaking to think about.

I loved how the author intertwines dual story lines into this historical fiction masterpiece. There is one story line set in 2018 that features 97 year old Winnifred telling her family her deepest secrets. The other story is set back in 1936 and features a much younger Winnifred (known as Winny back then) being set to Canada with her best friend Mary. Winny soon realizes that the promised life that they were offered isn't gone to be quite like what they imagined. The series of events that transpire once she gets to Canada will scar her forever.

Like I said before, this book definitely left an impression on me. The author states that she doesn't want these British Home Children's lives to be forgotten. Goal met with me! Very memorable and inspiring literature. Thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinions.

This was an amazing story. I was hooked from the first few pages. This story was sad and inspirational at the same time. You really get invested in these characters and their well being.

The Forgotten Home Child is a fascinating historical fiction story based around the 120,000 displaced impoverished children from England between the years of 1860 and 1920. Known as the Home Child program these young children were placed on boats and sold to work on farms and as laborers throughout the world. Many of them went to Canada. This story is so compelling with developed characters and emotion while delivering a well researched basis for the events and stories. I would highly recommend this story to anyone who loved Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. Thank you to Genevieve Graham for bringing these children’s plight out of hiding. I received an ARC if this book, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for review based upon my honest opinion.

I think I have read every single one of this author’s books and I love each one more than the last. She takes topics from history, topics I really don’t know that much about, it appears and makes them so relevant. I had heard little about the British home children before I read this book and their stories were truly heartbreaking. These children were destitute, orphaned, or just unwanted; they were plucked off the street and trained to be sent or a better life. I cannot imagine the fear of the unknown for these children to be thrown into a new country with new families; some of these children were adopted by their new families but it appears the majority of them were treated as indentured servants or worse, it appears that few of them, very few of them, had the opportunity to live better lives.

The story is centred around Winifred Ellis, it is told in two parts; the present and the past starting in 1936, the past stories are told by Jack and Winny; Winnifred is one of a group of children, that the book centres on; Jack, Mary, Edward, Cecil and Winny. This book starts for the children when they’re caught stealing food and they end up in a home for orphans in Liverpool, England, the are separated and taken to Dr Barnados Barkingside homes. When they are told they will be going to Canada for better lives, the girls are quite happy to find out the boys will be going to Canada with them. Once in Canada, we see how their lives turn out.

This book was heartbreaking, joyous, full of love and pain. This book is about family, whether blood or through true friendship family is the underlying story and how we strive to belong to one another and ourselves. Thai book will stay with me for a long time.

Enjoyed this book. A very sad time in history when there was an abundance of orphans in London and many were shipped to Canada with the hoping the children would be adopted by loving families. That wasn't the case for many children who were adopted as laboreres with little to eat etc.