Book: An Orphan's Song
Author: Lizzie Page
Pub Day: July 13th 2022
About the Book:
England, 1951. A tear-jerking and uplifting story about children orphaned by war, the grieving young woman who cares for them, and their journey together to healing.
When Clara Newton’s American pilot fiancé died during the war, she thought she might never heal. But now she has a new life looking after orphans in a children’s home named in his memory. Like wide-eyed, musical little Rita, who refuses to believe her mother died during the Blitz. With the Festival of Britain approaching, Clara is delighted to see the children singing and preparing to audition together. And with D-Day war hero and handyman Ivor living next door, she begins to open her heart once more.
But when a deeply troubled orphan arrives on Clara’s doorstep, she faces her greatest challenge yet. Clifford has arrived without a background file and while Clara struggles to meet his needs, she is desperately in need of help. Turning to Ivor for comfort, she is broken-hearted when he decides he may never be ready for love again, as he adjusts to life as a single father.
Clara has never failed to help any of the orphans in her care. And when little Rita encourages Clifford to join their singing group, she hopes he may begin to find his way. But soon he endangers not only their beloved plans for the Festival of Britain but the lives of the other children…
When disaster strikes, can Clara save the orphans and make Rita’s dreams of singing for Britain come true? And while Ivor cares for his baby alone, can Clara have a future with the man she loves?
A totally uplifting and emotional tear-jerker set after World War Two. Fans of Before We Were Yours, Diney Costeloe and The Orphan Sisters will be reaching for the tissues and reading all through the night.
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'An Orphan's Song' by Lizzie Page.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Lizzie Page,
Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 13th July 2022.
This is the third book I have read by this author. It is also the third book in the 'Shilling Grange Children's Home' series but can be read as a standalone. The first book I read is called 'The Orphanage' which is the first book in the series and 'A Place To Call Home' which is the second book in this series and I would highly recommend them both.
I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. I am a HUGE fan of Lizzie after falling in love with her books 'The Orphanage' and 'A Place To Call Home' and if this is half as good as that was it is bound to be a page turning read. The synopsis also stated that "Fans of Before We Were Yours, Diney Costeloe and The Orphan Sisters will be reaching for the tissues and reading all through the night." I am a huge fan of 'Before We Were Yours' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of 44 chapters and a letter. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in England 🏴, UK 🇬🇧. I always enjoy when books are set in the UK as I'm from Wales and have sometimes visited areas mentioned in the book. This makes it easier to picture where the scenes are set at times.
This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonist is Clara Newton. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.
Wow!!! Yet another absolutely captivating heart warming and tear jerking stunning page turner ♥ Well done Lizzie on yet another stunning success!
This book is absolutely beautifully written and it had me absorbed from the first page to the last. The vivid descriptions really put me in the storyline with Clara and the children and the cover and synopsis suit the storyline perfectly.
This series itself was quite unique for me as in I have never actually read a fictional book about a children's home apart from the first book in this stunning series 'The Orphanage' and 'A Place To Call Home' which is the second book I have read several non fiction foster books but never any fictional so I have been looking forward to getting sucked into this continuation of Shilling Grange children's home !!
The storyline is filled with heartbreak, love, friendship, family, shocks, tension, sadness, hope and much more. My mind and heart was completely captivated throughout and I couldn't stop turning the pages from start to end. I have loved this gorgeous series from the start and I look forward to meeting Clara and the gang every time I turn the pages of Lizzie's next success. I loved that the children of the Michael Adam's Children's Home are finally given something to look forward to in this book. I also adored that they were finally seen as something other than orphans, apart from certain stuck up snobs who we meet in this book! My heart was absolutely in my throat when a certain even happened at approximately 60% and my heart absolutely broke for Clara, I won't say anymore about that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers!! I was completely shocked and saddened by the way certain people spoke and acted but you will always have horrible people in this world. There are several parts where I found tears running down my face which isn't an easy feat so you may want a box of tissues on standby and I would definitely clear your schedules as this really is unputdownable. I cannot wait until the next book in this beautiful and amazing series comes out!!! If it is half as addictive as this, 'The Orphanage' and 'A Place To Call Home' then it is bound to be a winner!!! I absolutely loved how this book ended even if it ended in even more tears!!! This would make an absolutely stunning TV series!!
Although this is the third book in the series I had would have had absolutely no problems reading it without the others. Any details or events that have previously happened are mentioned in just the right amount of detail to let a new reader know what has happened and yet not too much to bore a previous reader.
I absolutely fell in love with the kids and I absolutely adored Clara in what she was doing for them in 'An Orphan's Song' and I was over the moon to "meet" them all again. I love that the main protagonist is a strong female who went from someone who seemed to have certainly chosen the wrong job and really annoyed me on several occasions with her materialistic ways to a fighter and a role model for the children and I enjoyed watching her grow and develop in 'The Orphanage', 'A Place To Call Home' and now in 'An Orphan's Song', and watching her grow and develop even more in this book. Clara is now a complely different woman to the one we first met and I love how her number one priority is always the children even when she has had enough and needs some her time, which she most certainly needs after certain events in this book!! I absolutely love how she fought for the children even when it felt like she was banging her head against a brick wall she never gave up!!! She was not only struggling with everything that was going on with the council but with the children, her own emotions and feelings and much more yet she continued to keep going strong even when, at times, she just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. I was so proud of her during the end and I was also absolutely over the moon and was clapping and shouting "Finally!!!" which gave me a few strange looks!!I look forward to meeting her again in the next book in this wonderful series. I could not stand Mr Browne who I found to be horrible and insensitive nor Julian who I found to be a stuck pillock from the start. This book sees two new Orphan's enter the orphanage, Denny and Clifford. I fell in love with Denny from the start he was such a sweet boy, he has definitely become a favourite along with little Peggy who takes him under her wing bless her. Clifford isn't as easy to take in and causes a poor Clara to be even more over stretched and over stressed than she already is but I won't say more than that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers. Clara does later take another orphan later in the book and I'm looking forward to finding out more about her and see how she settles into the home once she has been there for a while. I wonder if Gladys is really as perfect as she seems to be? I loved all the children who each had their own unique personalities. I think Evelyn and Peg are very sweet, Rita has come along beautifully since the beginning and I was absolutely landed for her after what happened, I did miss Alex, Barry and Billy and Peter in this book as they were all such huge personalities and I would love to see where their seperate lives take them. Although they have left the orphanage I love how Clara stays in touch with them and it shows how much of an amazing woman she is and also how different she is to book one 'The Orphanage'. It was wonderful seeing how Maureen had grown and matured so much from 'The Orphanage', 'A Place To Call Home' and through this book. An absolutely fantastic mix of characters and I am looking forward to meeting Clara, Ivor, the current children and the new children in the next book.
Congratulations Lizzie on yet another absolutely gorgeous book ♥ This is exactly why you are one of my favourite authors. Here's to your next success 🥂
Overall an absolutely heartwarming, soul lifting unputdownable book that will captivate your heart, body and mind.
Genres covered in this book include Historical Literary, Romance Literary, Saga, Coming-Of-Age Story, Historical Fiction, Literary Sagas and War Story amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'Before We Were Yours', Casey Watson, Harry Keeble, Shane Dunphy, Louise Allen, Angela Hart, 'The Orphanage', 'A. Place To Call Home', Diney Costeloe and and anyone looking for a heartwarming book on children's homes.
396 pages.
This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon or free if you have kindle unlimited which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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@LizziePage @Bookouture @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86
Author Bio
Lizzie Page loves reading ALL the books, and she's always loved reading the adventures of women in the past so it seemed natural to her to write historical fiction.
Lizzie lives with her family by the sea in South East England. And with her dog. How did she forget her dog? She enjoys traveling and lived in Japan for several years. Lizzie has had lots of different jobs from waitressing and teaching to admin and bingo-calling - but being a writer is her absolute favourite.
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