Maisie Reynolds was abandoned when she was little, separated from her twin brother and forced to grow up in Holly Bush Orphanage. The world was at war and Hitler's devastating bombs were getting closer. Fate had other plans for Maisie and a secret from her past changes everything. When she meets Canadian paratrooper, Cam, Maisie learns that love might not be lost to her. But not before D Day and her past life brings a tragic twist.

Maisie grew up in an orphanage and she was the last one left when it closed. Maisie never got adopted or rehomed. She was always left out an unloved. She didn't didn't know why she was treated differently. She never knew what had happened to her twin brother, Jack. Yhis us the story of Maisie coming of age, falling for a Canadian who will change her life. A story of hope, courage, forgiveness and acceptance. This is a well written story of romance and mystery set around WWII.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #HarperCollinsUK #OneMoreChapter and the author #GlynisPeters for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

The Forgotten Orphan by Glynis Peters is a story full of hope, love, perseverance, coming of age, finding one's purpose, forgiveness, and acceptance. A fast-paced read that pulls you in and holds your attention until the surprise ending. The Forgotten Orphan is for anyone that enjoys a great WWII storyline with a bit of mystery and romance.

The Forgotten Orphan by Glynis Peters is an historical fiction novel that takes place mainly in England during WWII. This was my second book by Glynis Peters and it did not disappoint.

This is the story of a young woman named Maisie who grew up in an orphanage without love. She was never put up for adoption and worked at the orphanage until it closed. The orphanage became a long term medical facility with soldiers that had PTSD and other injuries during the war. Maisie stayed to help and care for these soldiers. I loved, that despite everything, the main characters journey to find herself was truly inspiring.

The setting was so vividly written. You could imagine the orphanage, the town and the main characters room. You could feel the bombs drop. I felt that the character development was wonderful. You could feel the sadness, torment, hope, friendship, and love. I had a hard time putting it down.

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story. This book was very well written, a joy to read. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Peters has in store for us next. Well done.

Thanks to Glynis Peters, Harper Collins U.K., One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Maisie Reynolds has lived at Holly Bush House orphanage most of her life having been left there with her twin brother, Jack, around the age of four. Shortly after arriving she experienced the heartbreak of being separated from Jack when he was adopted. The story begins with Maisie, now a fifteen-year-old, having “resigned herself to the ranks of the unwanted” accepting that she will probably never leave the orphanage.

Almost overnight everything changes with the start of World War Two and Holly Bank House is requisitioned by the Government as a medical rehabilitation and recovery centre. Maisie is concerned that she no longer has a home but it quickly transpires that she is a great asset to the medical staff with both her knowledge of the house and her caring and compassionate nature in helping the patients.

This is a beautifully scripted tale of heartbreak, beauty, strength, and love, centered around Maisie who ultimately shows that she doesn’t let her past define her future. It covers the harrowing experiences of many during the war, of losing loved ones, and the destruction of the bombings which were very descriptive. There was so much beauty in the writings, including Maisie’s poems, and letters sent to her serviceman sweetheart. Through this relationship we see Maisie’s understanding of real love grow and mature, something she hadn’t experienced before.

Overall, this was a beautifully scripted story of strength, love, and self-belief during a time of great sorrow and heartbreak. I would highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys historical fiction.
Many thanks to Glynis Peters, Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley.

This is the first time that I have read a book by Glynis Peters and on the strength of this it certainly won't be the last.

This is one of the few books that I have given a 5 star rating to this year. What I particularly liked is the way that the character of Maisie is developed as the novel progresses. There is also a varied cast supporting characters which adds to the charm of the story. The timeline of the narrative takes us from Maisie's tragic childhood, being separated from her twin brother. Tracing her journey into adulthood, in Holly bush, a children's home near Southampton.

This is at times a very upsetting book, yet at the same time is very uplifting.

Glynis Peters has managed to produce a historical fiction book which captures many aspects of what life must have been like on the home front during the Second World War.

I give my thanks to Glynis Peters, Netgalley and HarperCollins UK (First Chapter) for a copy in exchange for this review.

This is the story of Maisie who was an orphan in Holly Bush House, Maisie was always left out and was never rehomed or adopted , why was she always treated differently to the other kids? What happened to her brother James.

This is Maisie's story of coming of age and finding the true story of her life, with interesting twists and a plethora of characters, this a great story of a girl finding herself and the women she will become.

I enjoyed this book on so many levels. It was interesting as well as heartbreaking. I love these sort of books and it was so well written. This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and I would definitely like to read more of hers. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Having read the authors previous 2 book's, I washing looking forward to this, it certainly didn't disappoint, great story, great characters, I will be looking out for more books by this author

Maisie and her twin brother Jack were left at the orphanage. Her brother and many other were adopted. Poor Maisie wasn't. She was unloved and unwanted. Unable to leave the orphanage she cared for the other children until they were adopted.

This is a beautiful, heartbreaking story. I'm a big fan of historical fiction in this era so I was drawn in straight away. I loved, that despite everything, even Maisie could find love and her journey to find herself was truly breathtaking. So although it is really sad there is always hope. I loved it.

Maisie Reynolds was abandoned at Holly Bush Orphanage in Southampton when she was about four years old and with her twin brother Jack. Left in the care of Matron Gloria Mason, Maisie had a miserable childhood, while other children were adopted including her own brother she was always over looked and it hurt. She stayed at the orphanage, Maisie loved to look after the children, she wanted them to feel that someone cared about them and she made a difference in many children’s lives.
England’s at war, it’s no longer safe for the children to stay in London and the orphanage will be closed. It’s going to be used as a rehabilitation and recovery centre for injured soldiers. Maisie doesn’t have a lot of confidence, she has no qualifications or skills and she has no idea what she will do when it closes? Maisie’s kind, helpful, efficient, and she’s offered work at the center and becomes the housekeeper. Maisie’s always plagued by self doubt; she wants to know who she is, why was she left at the orphanage and what happened to her brother Jack? She meets Canadian paratrooper Harry Cameron or Cam, he’s from British Columbia, they fall in love, the war drags on and she continues to look for clues about her past.
The Forgotten Orphan is a story about Maisie’s quest to find answers about her identity; she will uncover hidden secrets, discover things she wasn’t expecting and it’s shocking. But Maisie is tenacious, determined, she has an incredible big heart, so does Cam, he stand by her and together they overcome many obstacles. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review; I enjoyed the story and four stars from me.

Finding Opportunity in the Rubble
As a former U. S. History teacher, there are few things I enjoy more than a gripping historical fiction novel…but therein lies the problem when it comes to reviewing historical fiction: I’m notoriously hard to please. This is particularly true when the book is set during WWII, which happens to be one of my favorite time periods to teach. With that explanation out there, I have to say that I had a hard time reviewing The Forgotten Orphan; I disliked the book intensely for the first 60%, but found the last 40% to be amazingly redeeming. Would I tell a history teacher to stock this in their classroom library, no. But, would I recommend it to someone who enjoys historical romances, yes. Hence my 3.8 rating: if you can accept this book as a romance that just happens to be set during WWII it is very enjoyable, but if you are looking for the type of historical fiction that is steeped in thought-provoking factual back story, this isn’t the book for you. See the source image

The heroine of the story, Maisie Reynolds, is a young woman to whom life has been anything but kind. She and her twin brother Jack, were consigned to an orphanage at age 4, and shortly thereafter Jack was adopted. Maisie spent her entire life in the orphanage, being used a source of free labor by the Matron in charge, and feeling that she was never given a real shot at being adopted. She wonders who her mother was, where her brother wound up, and why she has been almost systematically disadvantaged in the adoption process. But through it all, she remains hopeful that she will find love, have children of her own, and build a life of meaning helping others. She longs to be of service doing something meaningful for the war effort, and she gets her chance when two successive orphanage Matrons die during the bombing raids of the Blitz. It is at this point that her relationship with Canadian paratrooper Harry Cameron (Cam) begins to blossom. Cam helps Maisie realize that her dreams of a better life and family of her own could become reality, as long as they both survive the war.

Sounds like a promising basis for a plot right? I thought so too! But although I found Maisie likable enough, I felt like the book spent a bit too much time focusing on her feelings of self pity and almost overpowering goodness in the face of extreme diversity. Maisie is the only character who was wholly fleshed out, but she lacked any real negative qualities, making her hard to connect with. The characters revolving around her were one dimensional, and served a specific purpose to the plot, then faded into See the source imagethe background. The fate of her mother was predictable, as were the reasons for Maisie’s lack of adoption prospects. Her early interactions with Cam felt a little forced and flat to me, but this was more than made up for later on, when they finally had a real spark, brought about by Maisie’s personal tragedies and Cam’s unwavering loyalty.

From a historical standpoint, I felt that the portrayal of the air raids, and people’s varying reactions to them, was done well. The eerie feelings of walking through a bombed out town, waking to the wail of an air raid siren, and being caught out in the middle of a bombing were written with great precision. Maisie’s feeling of being too weary to bother running to shelter because the thought of dying alone in the dark of a cellar evoked a powerful feeling of sympathy. Where I felt a lack of connection to the historical time frame was in the descriptions of the wounded from D-Day that Maisie was helping to nurse, and in her musings on the Holocaust, which seemed almost like a throw-away obligatory mention, rather than something included to bring meaning to the story. However, this was counterbalanced by her understanding of the fact that the U. S. and British retaliatory bombings on Germany were affecting women and children there in the same way that she had been affected by the German raids, and that was a powerful observation. See the source image

So to conclude: this story would have been a home run for me if it had included a bit more historical fact to develop the back story of the events in the book, such as on the Blitz, the Allied retaliation, and D-Day. Bonus points could have been had for talking about the economic situation that existed at the time that Masie and Jack were brought to the orphanage, to flesh out the motivations of the adults involved. But, as I said, if you can read this simply as a romance novel that is set in the past, it is a sweet and sensitive story of a girl’s search for family and love, and her ultimate fulfillment.
3.8

Lovely heartwarming wartime story of a girl brought up in an orphanage and her determination to find
out about her family.

💫 Book Review 💫
The Forgotten Orphan by Glynis Peters
@onemorechapter @harpercollinsuk

Thank you to the tagged publishers for this gifted copy of The Forgotten Orphan for an honest review.

The book steps into historical fiction with baby steps. It’s a story about a young orphan girl named Maisie who grows up in an orphanage filled with discipline and pain. Her twin brother was adopted by a family and she has no connection or knowledge of her past.

As the war rages on, she finds herself at the cusp of womanhood and with the task of finding homes for all the kids in the orphanage. The loneliness of having no past leads to excitement when she meets a young Canadian man named Cam who offers her a chance of happiness even as the world is falling apart around her.

The novel had a beautiful premise but felt more appealing to young adults who may be just starting their reading into historical fiction. I enjoyed it but I needed more from it.

The Forgotten Orphan is about as far away from a traditional orphan story as it’s possible to be. For a start the protagonist, Maisie, is an older teenager, and secondly, she is in the middle of a world at war. That said, it is a story of friends, family and loves lost and found, and it doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life and death in World War Two.

From a personal point of view I loved the fact the book was set in Southampton, a city I know well. It was well researched and well written, with a host of characters I came to care about. Family saga, wartime tale, love story – this book was all of these and so much more than the sum of its parts.

This review will appear in Frost magazine on 30th November.

I cheered for abandoned orphan Maisie, at every turn. Her twin brother has been adopted and she is left in an orphanage with a very unkind Matron. Life is hard. WWII begins and Maisie has no where to go as the orphage is turned into a hospital to treat the wounded. Maisie becomes a war nurse and meets her true love, Cam, a Canadian paratrooper. Such beautiful writing and such a heartwarming ending. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

A Redhead named Maise

Maise arrived at the orphanage with her twin brother as a very young child. Her brother Jack was adopted, but she remained at the orphanage. It was a sad and unhappy place to be, but it was home to Maise. She is a take charge person and when the war started the Orphanage was converted to a convalescent home and hospital for wounded and returning soldiers. Maisie had nowhere else to go so she stayed as the housekeeper and later trained as a nurse's aide.

One day returning home from a trip to town to visit her friends she met a young Canadian officer at the bus stop. She never thought she would meet and fall in love. She is happy, but a secret from her past and an old friend from the orphanage try to steal her happiness.

Maise is a take charge person on the outside with a heart as soft as a feather pillow on the inside. She rolls with the punches and comes up fighting. She strived to always do her best regardless of the conditions. This is one courageous girl, especially during the war.

You could feel the sadness, you could experience the torment but written in a gentle way. I definitely felt the love between Cameron and Maisie. The Characters were wonderful and very well written into the story, even the character of Simon. The atmosphere and the surroundings were portrayed very well. I could almost feel the room shake from the bombs falling. I loved the beautiful descriptions of the Canadian wilderness, it sounded so lovely and so peaceful.

This book was very well written, a joy to read, and I recommend it.

Thanks to Glynis Peters, Harper Collins U.K., One More Chapter, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy for an honest review.

I highly recommend “The Forgotten Orphan”’ by: Glynis Peters. This book is an emotional moving 5 star must read. This is my first hook by this author, I was not disappointed.

Wow I just finished reading The forgotten Orphan by Glynis Peters and what an amazing book this is.
When Masie Reynolds was small, she arrived at the Holly Bush Orphanage with her twin brother Jack. In time she watched the other kids get adopted and even her brother Jack got a new family of his own. But never Masie with her red hair. The people at the orphanage thought she was trouble so their she stayed. But Maisie was fair from trouble. She was always looking after the other kids without a thank you or any love. Even though her life was hard she was always positive. And vowed that she will one day meet her brother again. The orphanage is the only life she knew. The only respite she had was with her friends Charlie and Joyce. She was at the orphanage until it closed and turned into convalescence home for the soldiers that got injured in the war. She had no meaning in life until she met Harry Cameron or Cam for short, a Canadian soldier and then her life changed.
Thank you Harper Collins One more Chapter for the copy of The forgotten orphan. I absolutely love this story. The is a heart wrenching story of Maisie trying to find someone to love her and finding her own place in the world. But with every obstacle that came towards her she seemed to overcome it. She put others first always before her own. This is such a beautifully written story. If you are a fan of historical novels like this one you will love this one too. I highly recommend.

Sometimes you need a book which will challenge and shake you and immerse you in a world you may not relate to. This beautiful, beautiful book is powerful and poignant and full of hope even when circumstances are horrendous. What human beings are capable of can be beyond comprehension.

Maisie's life starts out just like that...horrendous. She and her twin brother are forced apart when they are young children. Not only is Maisie forced to deal with extreme sorrow but the orphanage she is placed in, Holly Bush, is a terrible place filled with unbelievable cruelty, so much that she learns to tune it out. But it still hurts. Her heart breaks every time she is passed over for adoption.

World War II begins several years later and changes Maisie's life in so many ways. The book starts with her childhood then we journey with her into young adulthood. Heartache and despair are constants in her life. She then meets gentle and kind Canadian paratrooper, Cam, who treats her far differently. Though she experiences the tragedies the war brings, her new life also reveals glimmers and glimpses of happiness.

This book completely transported me...I could envision the settings and characters as though they were real. And these stories so easily could have happened. My heart ached and rejoiced with Maisie!

Read this if you are intrigued by the WWII era and/or historical fiction along with mysteries, surprises and romance. It's refreshingly different.

My sincere thank you to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this captivating book in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated.

Maisie, an orphan turned war nurse, has an amazing story to tell. From the age of four, she was left with little knowledge of her past at the door steps of an orphanage. Her twin brother was promptly adopted leaving her behind with an awful head Matron who disciplined her relentlessly.

When WWII struck with continuous bombings and death, Maisie found herself at the head of the orphanage racing to find all the children homes before the orphanage was shut down. Wartime took over her only home and she was absorbed into the role of homemaker, maid, and eventual nurse.

Unexpectedly, she met the love of her life, Cam. He swept her off her feet. This new found confidence helped mold her into the woman she was meant to be.

Glynis Peters takes us on a walk through a woman’a life during the war. Waiting and wondering what their future holds and if the men the waved good bye would return unharmed.

I am a sucker for historical fiction. Anything WWII and I can’t put it down. While I did enjoy this book, there were times I felt the author jumped from one thing to the next without guiding the reader with her. I know Maisie enjoyed poetry as an emotional outlet, but I wasn’t a fan. I found it hard to connect to those poems throughout the book.

Overall, this book was a good read. I am thankful for the advanced copy and opportunity to give an honest review. 3 out of 5 stars for me.