Sentimental

This is a lovely sentimental story about two orphaned women who come to see their difficult journeys as meaningful. No surprises really, but satisfying just the same.

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Surprisingly gripping!

It is life story told marvellously well via flash backs that link the most unlikely fostered teenagers contemporary issues' spanning eight decades! A page turner without doubt.

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fantastic

loved this from start to finish. strong story, strong characters and narrated very well.

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Good story, annoying narration

I almost gave up on this book but it was a good story so I stuck with it but I found the narrator very annoying with a poor attempt at an Irish accent.

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1 person found this helpful

Average slice of history

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The history - I want to find out more facts on the children who experienced this and inspired the story.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

No it was too fast and dismissive of the story being told. Not completely the fault of the narrator as the writing style is somewhat dismissive too.

Any additional comments?

I was really looking forward to reading this but it turned out to be a lightweight, flat novel. Yes, I know it's fiction but still there was a great opportunity to share this hidden slice of social history when orphan children were placed with completely unsuitable families, albeit by authorities with the best of intentions.

Told from two time periods the story follows the 1920/30 orphan train experiences of Niamh (Irish born immigrant to the US), alongside a modern day foster care child, Molly. Molly is clearing out the loft of Viviene in punishment for a theft and this is how the two time strands link together. I'm fine with this parallel approach but the novel jumped frequently between the two times which I found distracting.

My biggest issue is the lack of emotion I felt, even when we hear about the terrible hardships Niamh experienced. I think the issue was the child point of view which meant there wasn't much depth to the reflection. The narrative also had a quality to it like someone is telling you a story at a party but it goes on and on without any respite.

Added to this was the fast paced, almost breathless narration. I tried to slow it down but it didn't work well. The narration was almost dismissive of the events she was telling the reader about.

In terms of the experiences of these children the novel has raised my interest and I would certainly seek out more on this topic. I did feel that Niamh seemed to have every disaster befall her, which may or may not be realistic. It isn't a bad novel per se, it just could've been done differently which would have increased my enjoyment.

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great story

Great story. The Irish accent was atrocious, I wasn't sure if I could listen to it at times but it does pass. overall a great story

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Beautiful life story

Laughter, tears, anger ... this wonderful story brings up beautiful emotions, a must read to bring us all back to bring grateful for life

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Wonderful!

I loved this book! Wonderfully written and the performance was great! I couldn't stop listening. So easy to envision all the places and characters. Such a wonderful, heartbreaking story with a very emotional ending. I highly recommend

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Lovely easy read

I chose the book as it was on the New York bestseller list. I really enjoyed the way the story developed and especially Niamh/Vivienne's story. I did not particularly enjoy the 2011 part with Molly in it. I had no real interest in her but could see it was part of the setup of the story. It was really hard to read how orphan children were treated and how their lives were so disrupted or aided depending on who took them in. It makes you realise how lucky life is not to have had such experiences in it. I thought the narrative was very good and aided delivery of the story. I would highly recommend it.

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5 people found this helpful

A wonderful read from start to finish

A rollercoaster of emotions and surprises. Would recommend to anyone as it's a great read xx

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1 person found this helpful