The Foundling by Stacey Halls - #BookReview

 

All the babies were wrapped like presents ready to be given. Some of them were dressed finely - though their mothers were not - in tiny embroidered sleeves and thick shawls, for winter had arrived, and the night was biting. I'd bound Clara in an old blanket that had waited years to be darned, and now never would be. We stood clustered around the pillared entrance, thirty or so of us, like moths beneath the torches burning in their brackets, our hearts beating like papery wings. I hadn't known that a hospital for abandoned babies would be a palace, with a hundred glowing windows and a turning place for carriages. Two long and splendid buildings were pinned either side of a courtyard that was connected in the middle by a chapel. At the north end of the west wing the door stood open, throwing light onto the stone. The gate felt a long way behind. Some of us would leave with our arms empty; some would carry our children out into the cold again. For this reason we could not look at one another, and kept our eyes on the ground.

***

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, Bess is astonished to be told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.

Less than a mile from Bess's lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend - an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

From the bestselling author of The Familiars comes this captivating story of mothers and daughters, class and power, and love against the greatest of odds...

***

One of my criteria for judging the worth of a book is whether it makes me want to go away and find out more about it's subject matter. I was already aware of the Foundling Hospital and it's role in the eighteenth century, but even so, it has ignited a desire in me to learn more.

This book has a dual narrative told from the perspectives of the two main characters, Bess and Alexandra. In terms of social class, their lives could not be more different but ultimately their stories will intertwine.

Mostly, this is a story about motherhood and what it means to be a mother. It questions whether financial security should come before love or vice versa.

The author has done a great job of immersing her readers into the eighteenth century and she has researched the period well. She brought Georgian England to life with a range of vivid descriptions of both the time and place.

Ms. Halls is a skilled storyteller. This is the first of her books which I have read but I would like to read more.

ISBN: 978 1838771409

Publisher:  Bonnier Books

Formats:  e-book, audio, paperback and hardback

No. of Pages:  370 (paperback)

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About the Author:

Stacey Halls was born in 1989 and grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and has written for publications including the Guardian, Stylist, Psychologies, The Independent, The Sun and Fabulous.

Her first book The Familiars was the bestselling debut novel of 2019. The Foundling is her second novel.

(author photo and information from the author's website http://www.staceyhalls.com/about/)

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*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.