Heedless. Stubborn. Disgraced. Small town Illinois, 1870: “My stepfather was not particularly fond of me to begin with, and now that he’d found out about the baby, he was foaming at the mouth”Desperate to avoid marriage, Nell Lillington refuses to divulge the name of her child’s father and accepts her stepfather’s decision that the baby be born at a Poor Farm and discreetly adopted.Until an … and discreetly adopted.
Until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.
Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and rethinks her decision to abandon her own child to fate. But even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby she may have no safe place to run to.
more
I enjoyed this book. It was also interesting to read about a setting that isn’t often explored in books. However, be warned this is not a stand alone novel. There is a a sequel.
I found this book easy to read. I liked the bravery of the main character and found the historical aspects of the story to be accurate. I am glad I did not live in the 1800’s when men were not accountable for their actions at all.
I read this book straight through. Really a good read.
I found it mildly interesting. Good for when you don’t want to stay up too late reading but still worth reading.
I really enjoyed reading this book!! It was the first one I read on my Kindle!
Slow start, but characters develop into real people
shows how people will treat even the ones close to them to avoid shame and scandal.
Historical look at special needs population in 1870s with murder thrown in for page-turner. great characters & setting
Learned a lot about how society viewed women and “deficients” back then
This series was one I could not put down.
I love this book for its historical references.
I enjoyed it, It kept my interest and I wanted to find out how the main character
Faired in her situation!
Interesting story.
Just wrote one on Amazon- have it 5 stars!
I liked this book. To read of the plight of a single unmarried pregnancy in the 1800s was interesting. There was an unsuspected twist in the character of the stepfather and his fate toward the end. The ending had me turning the page to see if there was more
If I read it, it was excellent !!!!! I READ IT. JAK, jr.
This was so delightful, and it surprised me how much I enjoyed this book. This is the first bit of historical fiction I’ve touched in a while, and it makes me wonder why I don’t read more.
The writing was perfect, conveying the times and the emotions of the characters well. Nell and Sarah were delightful to read about, and I am fascinated by Martin. He seems so different from most men, and yet there is a strength and a gentleness to him that is most becoming.
If you enjoy reading historical fiction, this book is for you. It is beautiful and contains very little romance, surprising though it may seem. Bell is a spirited woman that I enjoyed reading about, and I hope to read more about her soon.
I liked it so much I bought the second book in the series.
This Author really knows how to write an excellent read. The book is very different that any I’ve ever read. Nel is pregnant. She has a step-father that is not at all fond of her and a mother that is sickly. When the step-father finds out she is pregnant he insists to know the fathers name, but Nel will not tell him. So he punishes her by sending her to the Prairie Haven Poor Farm. He tells her she will stay there till she weans the baby, then he’ll take the baby and adopt it out. So on the 4th of November, she boards an ancient, creaking brougham and traveled for 4 hours with a bearskin rug over her and curtains hung on open windows. At 9 a.m. they finally pull up to the iron gates. The ” House”, as she learned to call it, was enormous. Her job to do there was in the sewing room. She made the clothes that all the inmates wore that lived there.
All in all this story goes on and is very well written. This is a must read!
Really strong female character. Interesting family intrigue.