The Orphan House, previously published as The Foundling’s Daughter, is a moving novel of a woman and her father at crossroads in their lives. She has left her husband and the life she has known to live with her father. While pondering where to go next. He is dying and yearning to discover his birth parents. A third protagonist is Connie, a woman recently moved to a rest home who ponders, as death nears, whether it is right or proper to keep his secrets from the world. Secrets involving his management of the Orphan House. The secrets will out, changing the trajectories of the lives of all three main characters.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. The blurb immediately drew me in with the promise of a gripping story filled with emotions and mystery. Based around an orphanage situated on the banks of the River Thames, the story moves between times to uncover the secrets hidden at the orphanage by the Reverend Burroughs.

Switching between the 1930’s and present day, this story takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions to discover the truth about what happened there. Seeing the story through the eyes of three different women who are connected in some way to the orphanage was gripping, although the story did start on a bit of a slower pace. This did, however, give the opportunity to build the tension and intrigue to the point that it reeled you in…good and proper!

I really liked Sarah and Connie’s characters and found their stories interesting and captivating, particularly Sarah and her relationship with her father. Interspersed between their chapters are diary entries from Anna whose life had crossed with Connie’s many years before. I have to admit, I liked Anna’s story the most and was moved to tears reading her experiences.

The book was a great historical read, as well as an emotional saga, with some of Anna’s story being based in India which, at that time, was still under English rule. The historical facts were well researched and made you feel as if you were there as you were reading. The story twisted and turned, and despite the initial slower start, held my attention throughout to the very last page.

I really enjoyed reading this, and it was definitely a book that I’ll be recommending to others! Full of secrets, mystery and family relationships this story will keep you turning the pages until you have finished it. It is a heart-warming read which was inspired by the author’s ancestors’ own experiences. Well recommend!

In The Orphan House, Ann Bennett takes us into the lives of Connie and Sarah. The Orphan House, is dual perspective. Well, it is actually triple, if you consider the mysterious diary that was given to Connie by Anna.

We start off in 1934, with Connie walking to the door of Cedar Hall Orphanage, and seeing the housekeeper holding a tiny baby...another abandoned baby. Connie's dad is in charge of the orphanage, and as always, he will take care of the paperwork.

Then, we jump to present day and Sarah Jennings has left her husband and is headed back home to tell her dad. She's not sure she will ever be able to go back to Alex. After what he has done, how can she?

I really liked this book. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this type of story is what got me started. This story follows 3 POVs and it flowed beautifully. I was amazed at how well the writer brought the lives of all 3 characters together so easily. I tend to prefer the historical parts of the books more than the present day lives but I ended up enjoying all 3 characters and their stories. The writer did a beautiful job on this and I would definitely recommend it to any one, especially readers who enjoy this genre.

I had high hopes for this but it just didn't work for me. Too slow, no great surprises. Just kind of blah. That said, many reviewers liked it very much so maybe its just me. Give it a shot.

This is a really good story with a good plot and one I didn't want to end. The characters all came to life so vividly, and the authors descriptions of things and places from the past were beautifully realized.
The Orphan house follows the story of Connie, now in a senior living facility and Sarah, a young woman who moves to town to see her father, but also to get away from her life back in London, and from her husband.
Connie grew up in this small town, her father was a minister and ran an orphanage in town. She was alone now as her sister the only other living relative had died the year before
Sarah's father was an orphan that had been adopted from that orphanage, and he was trying to find out about his birth mother. When his daughter arrives, in town, she tries to help him in his search.
While driving around town, she sees a wonderful old house, which actually was where Connie grew up and the minister lived.
Sarah is able to buy the house, thanks to an intervention that happened thanks to Connie, so the two meet and start forming a friendship.
This house is full of mystery, secrets, and a surprising past. This story has a lot of great things working for it and never leaves you bored
I enjoy this Authors storytelling very much and look forward to reading more of her books.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book.

An enjoyable read but a very obvious story line. I was hoping for some sort of twist but none came. . .

The Orphan House centers on the stories of 3 women, Sarah, Connie, and Anna as their lives intersect upon the selling of the house once owned by the minister that oversaw the old orphanage.

While her husband is traveling abroad, Sarah is visited by police who want to inspect the financial records of the restaurant business she shares with her husband. While helping the police, she discovers that not only was her husband mixed up with some bad business partners, he appears to have been having an affair as well. She leaves immediately and goes to her father’s house where she can plan her next move.

Connie Bourroughs, last remaining member of the Bourroughs family find herself in long term care follow a fall. Her father Minister Ezra Bourroughs, local legend and director of the local orphanage entrusted Connie with his belongings and personal papers, making her promise never to let anyone else see them. Her promise becomes impossible to keep when she must sell the house in order to cover her living expenses in care.

1934 - Anna, her family surrounded by scandal and her father in prison for bad business dealings, finds herself in India living with an aunt who marries her off to a military man with his own demons. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Anna makes a mistake that sends her back to England where she crosses paths with a young Connie Bourroughs and entrusts her with a secret.

As historical fiction, the book did a good job describing Indian under English rule in the 1930’s from the perspective of an officer’s wife. I would have been interested to read more about it and about the orphanage system in England at the time.

The pacing of this book didn’t work for me. It was very slowly paced and disjointed, the time and narrator changes weren’t quite as smooth as I would have liked them to be and other than Anna, I didn’t feel that the characters were written to have any depth. The mystery reached a very predictable resolution.

I did feel for Anna and for Sarah’s father in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this Arc.
What a truly emotional and tragic book! From start to finish I was emotionally hooked. I was in tears in parts. I would highly recommend it.

I absolutely loved this book and I had a hard time putting it down. Sarah and her husband Alex split up and Sarah returns to her father's home to begin divorce proceedings. Her father is having health problems and would like to know who his real mother is, so he moved near the orphanage that he was in before he was adopted. The orphanage has been torn down and homes built but the house that belonged to it is on the market now - a big 3-story home in need of a lot of TLC. Sarah falls in love with it and buys it. While beginning renovations, she starts to uncover secrets of the orphanage, secrets of who her father's mother was and secrets of the Reverend Burroughs, Headmaster, as well as his two daughters, Constance and Evie, who lived in the house until just recently. This book is told from different POVs and time periods but everything is neatly wrapped up in the end. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very fascinating book in exchange for an honest review, I would give this book more than 5 stars if I could.

I enjoy historical fiction, but I found this book a bit hard to get into. It's a dark, sad tale with a redeeming ending. Sarah is trying to find out about her past, and has left her husband to move in with her father to help her find what she's looking for.There are many twist in the plot and many points of view from the various characters. My favorite part was reading Anna's diary. This would be a good book for book clubs as there is much to discuss.
Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for granting me this book.

This one was a hit and a miss all at once. I did love the story and the characters. The dual time frames worked well and the pacing was done fabulously. The biggest issue was that it just felt like something was being held back. It felt underdeveloped and needed to push through the barrier to make this a break out story.

2.5 STARS - The Orphan House's blurb promises a story about 'incredible acts of courage' and features a Gothic old house (who doesn't love one of those?), dual time frames and a mystery. With that description and its gorgeous cover art, it sounded like a book that was right up my alley! But this book isn't so much eerie and mysterious as it is a sweet story.

I hate to say it but I was underwhelmed with this book. Readers are given an abundance of foreshadowing that made the story predictable and lack tension. There are some interesting characters, but they remain underdeveloped and readers are told, not shown, many of their connections and feelings. I also questioned why some aspects (ie. the romance, Sarah's marriage problems) were included at all since they didn't add to the story.

While this book had great potential, it fell flat for me but please know that I am in the minority with my review. Many other readers enjoyed this book but for me, an avid Historical Fiction reader, it needed more tension in its mystery, depth to its story and better developed characters.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Bookouture for my complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book has lots of promise and is told in multiple POV, but it just didn't always do it for me. The story is great and some of the characters are really hard to like (maybe, that is what Ms Bennett was going for).

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in February 2020.

I have enjoyed reading this book it has a good plot and strong characters,a family run orphanage with secrets i can highly recommend this 5*

This story will keep you reading as it slowly weaves through a narrative that has twists and turns, ups and downs, all over the place. It is not fast moving, it moves at a slow pace, but that's ok.

Hello! I'm very sorry I requested this by mistake as I thought it was another book. Hope to read it again in the future. Many Thanks

This book just didn’t do it for me. It had a very interesting premise and background, but I didn’t find myself caring about the main characters enough. I found both Sarah and Connie a bit underdeveloped and immature, with unrealistic reactions to their situations. I did love the diary entries of Anna and wish that this was developed and explored even further. It took a while to build this story. I felt that I was still getting to know the characters halfway through, at which point I would have liked to be more involved in the story. I do think this plot had a lot of promise and if you enjoy mysteries, family dramas, with a historical touch, you may want to give it a try! ⁣

Oh what a wonderful book! This beautifully written story tugs at the heart strings. The writing is assured, stunning. Secrets are revealed as this masterful tale unfolds, every page a treat to be savoured. I lived this book, it hooked me from the first line and kept me engrossed until the last, the characters coming to life so it took a while to adjust to my surroundings when real life beckoned. I am still thinking about the characters and their choices. A book to treasure and reread. A masterpiece.

I was drawn to the premise of The Orphan House, by Ann Bennett, right away. I am a huge fan of historical fiction, and the added mystery of what happened at the Orphan House and the possibility of discovering Sarah’s father’s birth parents intrigued me. This book, however, just wasn’t one of my favorites in this genre.

I really enjoyed Sarah’s relationship with her father and how she was so driven to find answers for him. I loved that she stepped up to help in the local restaurant and that she was renovating the old home she purchased from Connie. I would have loved to know more about her and her marriage. I was disappointed that she never spoke to her ex husband, returned to their shared restaurant, or had any type of real closure there. That was difficult for me to get over, as I didn’t find it very realistic.

Some of my favorite moments in the book were the diary entries by Anna. I liked her portion of the story, even though it broke my heart. I loved the setting of those sections, and appreciated how adventurous and creative Anna was. I wish her story didn’t end the way it did, and I do wonder what happened to her husband.

This book ultimately fell flat for me, but there are other readers that really enjoyed it. I wish Ann Bennett, the author, the best of luck with this book and appreciate the chance to read it. Thank you also to Bookouture, and NetGalley for the eARC.