This dual time set book but only over two decades. Full of emotion and a very enjoyable book despite its subject. Well written and a good read. 4 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley, author and publisher for this ARC

As is my usual way with reviews, I will not be repeating the precise of the story here as I believe that the professionals do a better job without giving too much away. What you really need to know is whether this book is worth reading.
This book was unexpectedly complex. I felt by the end as if I had been on a long journey and it felt ages since I had begun. That is not to say that I found it too long or boring. Far from it; its just that so much has happened to Gertie and her girls.
As with many books now, it is set in more than one time frame and you find out more about each character’s life as the book progresses. The detailed descriptions in the beginning seemed more thought out, whilst towards the end, it tailed off as if the author realised they needed to finish off quicker. Having said that it is a great story and very engaging. Recommended.

I have always loved historical fiction. There is just something special in learning about a time period and from those who came before us.

The Fallen Woman's Daughter is a powerful and emotive family saga that spans multiple generations from Chicago to Iowa, begun in the 1920s to the early 70s.

During these times, there were minimal options for the uneducated. Women were struggling with child care, jobs , and putting food on the table with very little money and no support. The author shows how difficult it was for these women to walk away from their horrible situations and how they did the best they could with the hand they were dealt.

The author tells a story of extreme poverty, domestic abuse, misogyny, child welfare, and even illiteracy. Also, how one bad decision, one choice, can change the course of generations to come.

I was pleasantly surprised at how engrossing this novel is, and I love that it brought out all my emotions. It's rare an author who can make me feel like I'm in the story.

Historical fiction lovers will definitely enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgally, Woolton Press, and Michelle Cox for the early read. All opinions in this review are voluntary and my own.

This is the story of Gertie who made decisions in her young life that came back to hurt her in the future through no fault of her own. Her daughters Nora and Patsy taken from her for many years.
A lovely book about choices, love, family and regret. Totally recommend this book.
My thanks as always to NetGalley and to Woolton Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles for the read

First, I love the historical aspect of the story. The beginning of the book gives a glimpse of a 1920s traveling carnival and a place for girls from broken homes in 1930s. More importantly, it is an emotional story about the life of a mother and her two daughters. This book tore into my heart. The characters reminded me of people that I have known. I even identified a bit with the daughter, Nora. The story is heartbreaking and frustrating and love is there too. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys family sagas or complex mother-daughter relationships.

I would like thank NetGalley and Woolton Press for an ARC copy of the book.

I had no idea what to expect when I started this book, but I found that it was something that really kept my attention. I thought the beginning was more fleshed out and detailed oriented, while some of the later parts of the story seemed that they were rushed and I would have preferred more to that part of the story.

The Fallen Woman's Daughter by Michelle Cox is a poignant Historical Fiction novel about relationships, secrets, choices and regrets, sorrow and belonging. The author notes that the story is heavily based on a heartbreaking real-life situation.

Young sisters were taken from their mother, Gertie, and placed into grim Park Ridge School for Girls. Nora and Patsy were understandably bewildered as they waited and waited for their mother to fetch them. Treatment was harsh and discipline strict. Their mother, meanwhile, had terrible problems of her own with destructive relationships and marriages. At seventeen, she became involved in a hasty and passionate relationship with a carnival man. They quickly married. Things grew worse when her mother-in-law died. Gertie did all she could to protect her little girls. A drastic misunderstanding occurred and the school matron cruelly told the sisters their mother was a "fallen woman".

As time wore on, the girls grew older and gained insight into and understanding for their mother who found her way to them. In adulthood they entered into relationships of their own.

While the premise is fascinating, I did not love all aspects of the story as I had hoped. However, it is beautifully powerful and emotive.
Though rife with anguish, there are also snippets of hope.

My sincere thank you to Woolton Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this engrossing novel.

The Fallen Woman’s Daughter by Michelle Cox is a compelling story about a mother, Gertie and her 2 daughters, Nora and Patsy. We learn of their hardships, complex relationships and how their choices defined who they became. This story spans across multiple generations as we learn about Gertie as a girl and her relationship with one of her sisters.

I appreciate the multiple perspectives this story contains as it helped to connect with each of the main characters. As a mother I could connect. As a sister I could connect. As a daughter I could connect and as a grandmother I could connect.

A must read for anyone who appreciates the complexity of family and love. .

Nora and Patsy have a new home and a new school, but they are not entirely sure why. After a social worker showed up at their home and took them from their mother they were left at Park Ridge School For Girls with little explanation about why they were there and when they would be going home to their mom. Spanning from 1932 into the 1970’s Nora struggles to come to terms with her mother’s abandonment, even after they are eventually reunited. And Gertie grapples with her guilt over losing her daughters.
This was a heartbreaking book, covering everything from extreme poverty to domestic abuse, the child welfare system and the effects it leaves on families permanently. @michellecoxwrites has written an empathetic book with characters who have a lot of emotional depth and discovery.
Look for this one March 5 2024.
Thank you to Woolton Press and @netgalley for letting me read an advanced copy in exchange for a review.
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this was a great story but the jumping around timelines was very off putting for me. i however felt the story, the characters, every emotion as i was reading this story. i felt apart of it. i will remember this book.

thanks netgalley and Woolton Press for this arc

my thoughts and opinions are my own and isnt influenced by anyone else

This was an interesting historical fiction story set in Iowa and Chicago from the 1920s to the 190s about a family focusing on the mother, Gertie, and her daughters, Nora and Patsy. Gertie wanted adventure in her life. When the carnival came to town, Gertie couldn't help herself be lured by the Showman into what she hoped was travel and adventure. Reality didn't involve either. Gertie had two daughters several years apart and was struggling day to day. The girls were taken from Gertie and send to a home because the neighbors didn't think she was taking care of them well and called the authorities. Nora writes her mother and begs her to come get them, but since Gertie can't read, the letters go unanswered.
The book tells Gertie's story and Nora's story from their own perspectives. Gertie struggles to fit in throughout her life and many of her decisions are questionable, but you do know she loves her daughters. Nora is thrown into the caregiver role for her younger sister Patsy and has to balance growing up and taking care of someone else at the same time. The story also shows how Nora desperately wanted her mother to take care of her and then how Nora ended up taking care of her mother as she grew older and frailer. The family dynamics were based in generational trauma of poverty, misogyny, illiteracy.
The characters were well developed and you can feel the despair of decisions made and not made. As you were reading about the girls' home/school, the carnival, the apartments, you could see and feel the emotions associated with each.
If you are looking for a story during the early to mid-1900s with women who are doing the best they can with the hand they are dealt, I would highly recommend this book.
Thank you Net Galley and the author for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the story of a mother, Gertie, and her relationship with her daughter, Nora. When Nora is just eight years old, her and her sister are sent to the Park Ridge School for Girls. Although they both think Gertie will come and get them, it doesn't happen quite the way they expect. This story was wonderful! It grabbed me, and I read for hours. It covers a long period of time and pulled me right into the characters' lives. I felt despair, sadness and hope for all the characters along the way. I highly recommend it! Michelle Cox is a fantastic author, and I hope she writes more!
Thank you to Net Galley and Woolton Press for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

A thoughtful and tear filled story of mothers and daughters. Early 1900’s when children were often taken from their family and placed in a home or orphanage. It was so touching. I stayed up late reading it.

1923. Gertie Gufftason is seventeen and lives with her large family in a mining shack, in Keystone, Iowa, and she’s rather naïve. When a carnival passes through town Gertie can’t believe it when her father buys tickets for them to go after church, here she meets Lorenzo, he spins her a tale of traveling all over America as a couple and she falls for him and his farfetched story.

Lorenzo is all talk, yes he does work for the carnival and so does his brother Roman, he marries Gertie and leaves her behind for weeks on end in a small town in a rundown house and she too ashamed to go back home and assumes her parents would have washed their hands of her. Lorenzo is impulsive and unpredictable, eventually they do travel to Chicago, and after a series of misunderstandings and setbacks the state removes her two daughters Nora and Patsy and sends them to the Park Ridge School for Girls.

1932. Nora is only eight years old and Patsy is six, she’s sure a mistake has been made, Patsy’s too little to understand, she cries for their mother and the house matron enjoys punishing her. Sundays are visiting days, Nora and Patsy wait for Gertie to arrive and take them home and she never shows up. Gertie isn’t a fallen woman, she’s illiterate, easily mislead and extremely unlucky in love. Her girls will be given an education at the Park Ridge, she makes the choice for them to stay for the time being and believes one day they will all be reunited.

Finally they are and Nora isn’t happy to see her and Patsy is really excited. Patsy seems to be following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s restless like her father Lorenzo and acts impulsively and Gertie puts it down to her gypsy blood. Nora doesn’t want to be like her mother and sister, she gets a good job, marries her best friend's brother and has two sons. As the years go by, the trauma and emotionally stress of her childhood, catches up with Nora, she feels like she's always had to be the strong and sensible one and when her mother wants to make peace with her past, Nora discovers she’s judged mum rather harshly and she was clueless and made assumptions about events.

I received a digital copy of The Fallen Woman’s Daughter by Michelle Cox from Woolton Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Spanning from 1923 to 1963, the multi-generational story is based around a tale the author heard over thirty years ago and she thought it would make for an interesting and thought provoking basis for her book.

It certainly does, a narrative about a mother and her two daughters, and how she wishes she could turn back time and her regrets and biggest fears are revealed. Four stars from me and perfect for fans of historical fiction sagas.

I enjoyed reading this book. I thought the POVs were woven together rather nicely. I found Gertie and Nora to be both fascinating characters. Nora’s journey to understand and accept her mother and her own upbringing could have been more drawn out and better paced in the last half of the book, but I still found it well written.

The secret that Nora discovers is only discovered at the very end of the book, though it is fairly obvious early on, which takes away from some of the dramatic tension of the POV-switching and build up.

I raise some complaints with levels of detail of various scenes inconsistently varying in detail (very well written and detailed scenes with Gertie, then vague and almost bored sensory details a couple chapters later).


I would recommend this book, especially to anyone with a complicated relationship with their mother and has gone on their own journey to understand how mom’s journey contributed to her own.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher - I had the pleasure of reading this book in exchange for an honest review.

**There are some spoilers below**

I’m not quite sure where to begin. I will say that I shed dozens & dozens of tears! It probably doesn’t help that I’m pregnant & am a big fiery ball of emotions, but regardless I really enjoy a story that makes me feel something. Even if it’s sad tears.

In the Author’s note we find out that she worked at a nursing home several years ago. One of the residents shared her life story. The author based this book off of that woman’s life. All the names were changed of course, but that story is now Gertie’s story.

I will say that there are some Trigger Warnings in this book to be mindful of. A few of them being Domestic Violence & Sexual coercion/assault. Some areas of the book were difficult to get through.

Gertie’s story begins when she’s a young girl. She meets a carnival worker (Lorenzo) & runs away with him (this is where the sexual coercion occurs) & never returns back home- until she’s in her 60’s. Here is where a series of lifelong mistakes & regrets happen. Gertie ends up having 2 daughters with Lorenzo. The family goes through DV situations, Lorenzo is killed, and they suffer financial issues. Ultimately the girls end up being taken away from Gertie.

The girls go to a home for orphaned girls. We hear the girls perspectives. We hear about their heartbreak of being taken away from their mom & they wonder why their mom doesn’t come back for them. Utterly.heart.breaking. My heart was broken into oodles of pieces.

Meanwhile Gertie has a couple more abusive relationships & experiences more trauma. She feels regret & sadness surrounding the mistakes she had made.

Eventually when the girls become older (age 16 & 18?) they move back in with Gertie. Gertie also becomes a grandma! Becoming a grandma was so much more different than being a mother for Gertie. She became her grandkids sole provider for a period of time. Gertie was in a place in her life where she felt she really could care for the grandkids & wanted to do things different this time.

Towards the end of the book, the family experiences a ton of (unexpected) deaths.

At one of the last chapters, one of the sisters finds an unread letter from her sister. Here are some beautiful & touching quotes from the letter:
-“Love transcends all.”
-“It’s time for you to forgive Ma, forgive me, & especially to forgive yourself.”
-“No more pity, no more anger, no more fear. I have had the benefit of being wrapped in your love my whole life. Now wrap yourself in it & live the life that has been given to you. You are free! But then, you have always been free, you just didn’t know it.”
**Cue more tears! ALL of the tears!**

My only complaint with the book is that it jumped around a bit & at times was hard to follow. Each chapter is marked with the year.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. And again, I adore books that can make me feel something. Grab the tissues & be prepared to get through a sad, emotional & touching read! I’ll be recommending this book to friends & family!

Desperate to escape her life in a poverty-stricken mining town, and lost somewhere in the midst of 11 siblings, Gerda aka Gertie is determined to find a way out of the dead-end life being lived by everyone around her, not least by her older sisters, brothers and parents.

Her chance - or at least what she perceives to be an opportunity - comes when she meets the barker of a travelling carnival. But what Gertie thinks will be the adventure of a lifetime turns out to be anything but...

A decade on, juggling life with two young daughters and very little support, she realises that freedom comes at a price. And sometimes, that price is a deeper form of captivity.

When her daughters Nora and Patsy are taken away to the strict and cruel Park Ridge School for Girls in 1932, a wound is inflicted on the mother-daughter relationship that their mutual affection never fully recovers from.

This is a multi-generational story that spans several decades, and demonstrates the lingering effects of intergenerational trauma. The pacing of the story is at times uneven, and the time-hopping in the early part of the storytelling is a little distracting. But this is an interesting and often quite moving story. It gets 3.5 stars.

“The Fallen Woman’s Daughter” is a fictional book by Michelle Cox.

The good: This was a quick read - I finished it in a few hours. It was also pretty easy to keep the characters apart. I cannot say that I really liked any of the characters, but they were written rather realistically - no one was perfect, and no one seemed bad to just be bad (though some of the guys Gertie picked were on the loser end of the spectrum).

The meh: The book started in 1932, then jumped to 1923, then returned back to 1932. While I do believe in the adage “shoot the sheriff in the first paragraph” [to grab the reader’s attention] that it took three chapters in 1932 to set the stage bothered me - especially since the book really could’ve began with the 1923 story. Also, as the story progresses, there are jumps in time. While they were okay for the most part, I did wonder who some of the new characters were - and needed to have the dots connected sometimes more than the author was willing to give.

The not so great: This book was not a warm and fuzzy read - something I’m rather craving right now. I didn’t like that the eldest daughter (Nora) seemed to be the most mature person in the book - flawed but most mature. I cannot say that I really liked any of Gerta’s husbands at all - and the epilogue seemed a bit cheesy, in my biased opinion [was it necessary? Maybe, but I could’ve done without it - ending just with Nora’s realization about Gertie].

Overall, I would say that this is a “woman’s fiction” book, but it wasn’t a book that I enjoyed reading. I'm giving it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because while I didn't enjoy it, I can see others enjoying it a lot more than I did.