Lissie Fairweather is adored by her father but same can’t be said about her mother Dora . There are dark and difficult times ahead for Lissie. This book had a great cast of characters but some were a lot nicer than others.
I was invested in this story from the very beginning and was so eager to know how everything would work out for Lissie. This is the second book I’ve recently read based around the late Victorian years and going into the First World War and it’s such an interesting and at times heartbreaking era to read about. I highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction saga .

The Workhouse Lass by Christie Walsh. While it is true that Lissie spent some years in an orphanage connected to a workhouse, it is by no means her whole story. She adored her father. Her mother was another story. When she was a very small child her parents had a fight, one of many, and her mother hit him with something. He fell to the floor, blood flowing from his head. She and her mother ran. She was worried about her father, but there was not much she could do. They had very little money so sleeping was a problem. Her mother quickly met a man, and they moved in with him. He was awful and his place was worse, but she soon met people who lived in the same alley and they took her in. She went to school, and she had warm meals. Life was good. Then, for no apparent reason, her mother took her to the orphanage and before she could give them any information at all, she left and ran, leaving Lissie there. As with all things, life was bearable and Lissie made friends, one a woman who worked there who found her a spot with her sister-in-law when Lissie was old enough to leave. From there her life took off.

This was a poignant tale, pretty unrealistic in many ways, about a terrible mother and person and a very lucky girl who escaped the miserable life she had with her mother. The people running the orphanage were far from saintly, but life could have been worse. After she left, she met people who would be her friends for their lifetimes and she met the man she was to marry. It was a slice-of-life kind of story, and a good one, giving the reader glimpses into how life was then. The orphanage was probably painted more kindly than it really was but life after the orphanage was pretty accurate. It was a good story with good characters, well developed and personable. The story took us through a war and some of its ramifications. I enjoyed reading of Lissie and her life and her friends. Good book.

I was invited to read The Workhouse Lass by Boldwood Books. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #BoldwoodBooks #ChrissieWalsh #TheWorkhouseLass

Dora Fairweather wasn’t cut out to be a wife and mother, and as soon as she’s able, she turns her back on her young daughter Lissie. With no parents to protect her, Lissie has no option but the dangerous streets of soot-sodden Bradford or the workhouse orphanage. Life in the orphanage is bleak and Lissie longs for the warm embrace of her beloved father.

As the years pass, Lissie learns to enjoy the camaraderie of the other girls in the workhouse, and when she’s taken under the wing of matron Connie Briggs, things begin to look up. A move to the seaside of Scarborough, friends and even love are finally within Lissie’s grasp. But she can never forget her father, cobbler Tom Fairweather, and the terrible secret she has carried all these years.

Powerful. Heartbreaking. Inspiring. Chrissie Walsh is a master at bringing history to life. 5⭐ Highly recommended!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. This is my honest opinion of the book.

It was difficult to read at first. It was gripping and emotional. I cringed and felt so bad for Lissie. She was only 7 years of age and had to deal with so much for her age.

She was a strong, little girl who grew up to be a beautiful soul. She didn't allow her circumstances to bitter her.

The characters were written so well. It was like I knew them. Luckily for Lissie, she met people who became her family. They were there for her even if her mother wasn't.

I related to the time period as my maternal grandfather served in WWI. He was in France and died in Egypt.

I enjoyed the story and loved Lissie. I can't get enough of Chrissie Walsh's books. Her books brings out all your emotions.

A fantastic tear jerker by Christie Walsh. Not much about Lissie’s years in the workhouse, but the characters that helped her endure the harsh treatment and conditions were wonderful. Not a complicated story but the story flowed wonderfully. Well worth reading.

Lissie Fairweather is only a young child when her beloved father is killed and her mother takes her away. However, her mother is abusive and promiscuous, and soon tires of having little Lissie cramping her style, so she is left in the workhouse orphanage to fend for herself, with a severe teacher who takes against the pretty child. Lissie is very fortunate that one of the other staff takes to her, and manages to keep her safe until she is old enough to go out into the world, where she certainly falls on her feet, working in a drapery shop.

But Lissie's past will haunt her in many ways, and as war approaches, her life will change.

The story is a little saccharine, but well told and as a reader I enjoyed rooting for Lissie. I thought the plot was fun to read, although fairly grim whenever the mother appeared, as her attitude and addictions were heartrending.

A good read, I'll certainly look for more by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an emotional, often heartbreaking read set between 1903 and 1919. Our heroine is 7 at the start of the story when disturbing events unfold. There’s some enjoyment as Lissie makes the best of the life that’s dealt her. As the story progresses things are more interesting. Then the war years. Those years were harrowing. I did not know about the events of 1914, at the beginning of World War One, where Lissie lived. This is historical fiction and it probably portrayed the events and people of the time accurately for readers.

A great read of survival and self-discovery in a harsh environment I really enjoyed Lissie's journey from the workhouse to the seaside, following her quest for love, acceptance, and the truth about her past. A gripping book.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I enjoyed reading this book.

The story of Lissie kept me hooked from the start. She doesn’t have a good mother at all. Her mother leaves her father, and then when they reach an orphanage. Lissie is just left there. As her story continues, she makes friends, but she’s still thinking of her father, how and where he is and whether she will see him again.

The story is emotional in places and was very well written about how people lived during that time.

I recommend this book.

This was a great read about Lizzie Fairweather. Lissie's mum fights with her husband and runs away with Lissie after leaving her husband for dead.Finally her mum takes her to an orphanage and runs away and leaves her.After 7 years Lizzie gets a job in Scarborough working in a drapery shop. Lizzie meets a young man and then war breaks out.All this time Lizzie is looking for her dad if he is still alive. Will she find him and will her young man come back from the war safely.Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood.

Thank you for the chance to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book though the ‘Workhouse’ element was a very minor part of the narrative really. The book centred around Lissie Fairweather and her parents - her mother a slatternly woman out for herself and her father a beloved figure in her life.
Her mother took her from The Peak District to Bradford - and eventually abandoned Lissie in the Workhouse. My husband who knows Bradford well says he thinks there was a workhouse in Little Horton. Dora - her mother - meets her end in a tragic way - which remains (and probably was in the day) unresolved.
Lissie is then taken under the wing of another saintly figure and when she becomes too old for the workhouse gets a job in a drapery with the sister-in-law of her workhouse mentor in Scarborough.
Living in the North East the vernacular speech of her friend Meggie was very odd. Lissie meets and falls in love with Flynn - who works on fairground rides owned by Patience - who owned the drapery. Meggie falls for her own beau Jim
So all a little contrived.
Time moves forward and WW1 intervenes. In my mind this was dealt with very quickly - perhaps too quickly - but then this review is written just before Remembrance Day. The horrors of the Trenches and Warfare were well researched and written but glossed over in a few chapters at the end of the book.
Flynn’s experiences could have been explored better in my view - to provide more would be a very major spoiler.

A well written well researched book which for me was a bit rushed. I would have liked a couple of extra chapters in this book rather than some from. another by Chrissie Walsh.

A heartbreaking whilst heartwarming book

Lissie Fairweather was only seven years old when her mother dragged her away from their home, and the father she loved dearly. Tom Fairweather and Lissie were close and his lessons on life stayed in Lissie's mind when tragedy struck. Her mother, Dora, didn't want Lissie and after Lissie had spent hours, days and weeks cleaning, washing, doing dishes and keeping the fire going, Dora took Lissie to the workhouse, dumping her there and turning her back on her daughter. Frightened, lonely and missing her Dad desperately, Lissie gradually settled in, making a few friends along the way. And as the years went by, the friendship of matron Connie Briggs, kept her sane.

When Lissie left the workhouse, Connie took her to her sister-in-law's place in Scarborough, where Lissie worked in Patience's drapery, and was a companion to Patience. Things looked up for Lissie, but she still thought of her father, and wondered where he was, if he was even alive. What would be the future for Lissie, especially as war was on the horizon?

The Workhouse Lass is a heartwarming, yet heartbreaking historical novel by Chrissie Walsh which I thoroughly enjoyed! Set before and leading into WWI, the characters are well written, especially those who are in the forefront of the story. This is my first by Chrissie Walsh and I'll be checking out her back log. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley & Boldwood Books for my digital ARC to read and review.

What an emotional read by Chrissie Walsh . Lissie is 7 years old and a happy content child until tragedy strikes the family.

Then we Follow her life’s journey through the years ,
I went through many emotions in this novel.

What an amazing story The Workhouse Lass is. The characters are well thought out, and each one, even the wicked ones, intrigued me. Lissie's life and relationships were told throughout the years; despite the hardships she went through, she remained a kind and likeable person. I ran the gamut of emotions, especially during Lissie's time in the Workhouse, and then when she was older, when her love interest was fighting in the war. The book was beautifully written and I couldn't read it quickly enough to find out if Lissie had her happy ever after.

A fantastic tear jerker by Christie Walsh. Not much about Lissie’s years in the workhouse, but the characters that helped her endure the harsh treatment and conditions were wonderful. Not a complicated story but the story flowed wonderfully. Well worth reading.

My thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC of this novel.

Young Lissie Fairweather was born into a poor but respectable family in late Victorian England, in the industrializing north where mills and mines polluted the air and long hours at low wages meant that many families needed several earners to survive. Tom, her own ‘lovely father’ as she calls him, is a cobbler by trade, but now mostly mends boots and furniture. He is a good man, well liked about town, a doting father, and an extremely patient husband. Tom and Lissie, barely 7 as the story begins, are very close.

Mother Dora, on the other hand, is lazy, promiscuous and selfish. Returning from a delivery trip to town, Lissie and Tom take a short cut through the woods. What they witness shocks them both. Dora attacks Tom, leaving him for dead, then flees with the heartbroken and unwilling Lissie. After much neglect and abuse when they find a new home in a mill slum in Bradford, Dora heeds her new man’s warning to get rid of her daughter. And so Lissie, bright and beautiful and mourning her father, is dumped at the orphanage attached to the local workhouse.

Although there are definite Dickensian elements, and hunger, hard work and arbitrary punishments are common, there is hope in the person of Mrs Connie Gibbs, a widow and workhouse employee who comes to dote on Lissie and takes action to rid the place of its most abusive employees. Lissie also finds comfort in the sympathetic friends she makes among the other girls. After 7 years, during which she hears nothing from her mother but never stops hoping her father survived her attack, Connie arranges an apprenticeship for Lissie with her brother’s widow at the drapery shop she owns in the lively seaside resort of Scarborough. She proves herself to the older woman in every way, and soon finds herself in a loving community, respected for her sewing skills, with good friends and even a kind and protective beau.

Of course, the story is not one big happy fairytale. Lissie was very young when her small world turned upside down. Turn of the century England spared little thought for the poor, and those, especially the young, who were left without family suffered especially. She is plagued by guilt and anxiety for having witnessed the attack on her father. She fears her mother might show up and ruin her life again. And then the Great War happens and Flynn and countless other young men are off to the front. They were to marry. Would that ever happen?

I found the writing and characterization to be excellent, though the author tends to make the main characters all good or all bad. Lissie and Tom are saintly, especially the all-forgiving Tom. Dora is a bit too slatternly even for a Victorian-era slattern, when it didn’t take much. I liked the careful historical detail, and the plausible positioning of the characters within it.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

What an emotional book but such a lovely story pulls at your heart strings

Dora leaves her seven-year-old daughter Lissie in an orphanage. this was a sad story, but really good writing.

This is the story of Seven-year-old Lissie Fairweather, losing her family, trying to make her way in a world that is not always kind. This is a story that will break your heart but then lifts you up. it is sad ta times but it then gives you hope.

This is a book where the writing brings the story and the characters to life. I enjoyed every aspect of this book as it had a bit of everything. It is a beautiful book and one I could read again.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A beautifully written heart wrenching saga,Chrissie Walsh is a wonderful storyteller her characters never fail to emotionally engage me kep me turning the pages#.netgalley#boldwoodbooks