Lynn
Written on Sep 23, 2019
Christmas Day, 1880 and Henrietta 'Ettie' O'Reilly arrival into the world is a tragic one when her mother dies shortly after giving birth to her. Somehow, the poor dying Irish girl with her newborn manages to find the way to the Sisters of Mercy, orphanage, a place she hopes will care for her baby daughter… Fourteen years later, Ettie's sheltered life at the orphanage comes to an end because the Sisters of Mercy have no money to care for themselves and the orphans. For Ettie, a job with board and lodgings takes her away from the East End of London to Soho. However, it isn't long before she comes to realise the outside world is full of danger.
I enjoyed how the author manages to capture the mood of the times with her vivid descriptions of life during the Victorian era; the feelings of abject disillusionment people suffer when they have very little to fall back on when life gets tougher than it normally is. In contrast, there's the enthusiasm and drive to succeed when a lucky chance offers a lifeline. It's both sobering and enlightening to understand the daily struggles Ettie encounters and how a naive young girl learns to adjust to life in an unfamiliar and somewhat hostile environment.
A saga full of drama, the narrative is full of dubious characters as well as charitable folk. It's an emotional and uncomfortable reading sometimes when Ettie's life takes a turn for the worse but oh so satisfying when her life gets back on track.
Woven into the story is Ettie and Michael's relationship and how against the odds they find each other again after he ran away from the orphanage. It's fascinating how their different backgrounds and experiences of their time at the Sisters of Mercy shaped their lives and attitudes.
Overall, It's a festive ending for two young people who deserve to be happy and for the reader, a delightful Christmas themed historical novel.
***arc received courtesy of the publisher via Rachel's Random Resources***