‘A great book, truly hard to put down. Fast paced, brilliantly plotted and desperately sad at times – all hallmarks of a bestseller’ Lesley Pearse on The Girl in the Letter Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Kathryn Hughes, this gripping novel of long-buried secrets will stay with you for ever.A heartbreaking letter. A girl locked away. A mystery to be solved.1956. When Ivy Jenkins falls … mystery to be solved.
1956. When Ivy Jenkins falls pregnant she is sent in disgrace to St Margaret’s, a dark, brooding house for unmarried mothers. Her baby is adopted against her will. Ivy will never leave.
Present day. Samantha Harper is a journalist desperate for a break. When she stumbles on a letter from the past, the contents shock and move her. The letter is from a young mother, begging to be rescued from St Margaret’s. Before it is too late.
Sam is pulled into the tragic story and discovers a spate of unexplained deaths surrounding the woman and her child. With St Margaret’s set for demolition, Sam has only hours to piece together a sixty-year-old mystery before the truth, which lies disturbingly close to home, is lost for ever…
Read her letter. Remember her story…
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Compelling, twisty, heart-wrenching and thought-provoking. A novel that stays with you
Heartbreaking and poignant. I highly recommend this book!
Once you start this book it will be very hard to put down. I advise you to read it slowly though. A lot of different characters in the book.
I just finished this book last night. It is full of twists and turns. The characters are engaging, even the villian. The story is heart-breaking and grips you from beginning to the end. While this is not based on a true story, the inspiration is based on mother and baby “houses” that existed in (mainly) Ireland and (a few) in the UK. This book is a tribute and testament to any woman who has been through this terrible ordeal. I will be reading more by this author.
Being a social worker in the foster care and adoption field.. this book really hit me as I know during this time period… unwed mothers were treated horribly and frequently their babies were taken by force and placed in adoptive homes where they may or may not have been treated well. This story made me hold on to every word… not really figuring out what would come next and most of the time guessing wrong or partially right. I was spell bound by the writer and since it was an audio book, the reader really was good! Such a complicated, yet simple story. I was on the edge of my seat and could not put it down!
This book just pulls you in to a good story. Unwed mother where sent away all the time and this book takes different twist to it.
Wow, this book is totally mind-blowing.
It is a multi timeline spanning from the 1950’s to present day, and tells of the atrocities which happened in a mothers and babies home in England.
So very well written and researched, it is a compelling read, and one which I would have no hesitation in recommending.
One of the best books I have in a long time
I couldn’t put it down! A good mystery!
Easy entertaining book
Loved this book!
Great but tragic story. I was horrified to learn that these “mother & baby” facilities for slave labor really did exist.
Page turner. I could not put it down.
This book still haunts me. Well written and hard to put down. Great twists…with a few unanswered details that keep you thinking about it days after you read it. Anger at the treatment of the girls is still with me.
This is the type of book that has you thinking about it long after you are finished reading.
This was a good book. Hard to know what was going to happen next. It is fiction but the things that happened in this book did happen in real life. It’s hard to imagine these things did happen to children. Do not want to give the plot away.
Very well done , kept your attention. I enjoyed it very much
Good read!
This book brought to light the stories and stigmas of unwed mothers and the religious institutions that helped/punished them. The story was definitely a page turner. Not a real HEA, though many of the loose ends were tied up. I was hoping for a little more of an ending with Ben and Fred, but those are just dropped.
I would definitely recommend this book, though I encourage you not to start it near bedtime. It was hard to put down and certainly affected my sleep.
I did not like this book. Stopped reading it after a few pages . On my opinion, of course it was boring and stereotypical. I just regret that I did not request a sample before my purchase.