A Child for Sale by Pam Howes
Genre: Dual timeline, Historical fiction, Contemporary fiction
Read: 9th September 2023
Published: 15th September 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
I reach out, arms aching to hold my newborn baby, and catch just a glimpse of soft, dark-brown hair before someone pushes me back onto the bed. ‘It’s alive,’ says the woman who delivered my child before she places something over my face. My last thought is of my baby’s first cry before my world goes dark.
1964 . When seventeen-year-old Laura Sims realises she’s pregnant, her boyfriend Pete says they will look after and love their baby together; but Laura’s mother turns on them in fury. Wrenched from her home and the boy she loves Laura is thrown into a home for unmarried mothers . With no access to the outside world and treated harshly, Laura fights to keep her child safe and to find a way to escape the nightmare…
2015 . Despite the anguish of losing their firstborn, Laura and Pete have been happily married for fifty years. But they’ve never given up on their lost child. And when Laura uncovers a tattered old diary from someone who worked at the home where she last saw her child, her heart breaks in those who ran the home sold their baby to a desperate, childless family .
Such cruel actions give Laura and Pete a tiny sliver of hope. Is there a chance to find their child, safe and happy, or will their search bring them only heartbreak and devastation?
A totally heart-wrenching and utterly gripping novel about how far a mother will go to find her child. Before We Were Yours , Sold on a Monday and The Orphan Train fans will be swept away by this gorgeous novel that reminds us to never give up on those we love.
MY THOUGHTS:
Reminiscent of the Magdalene laundries, A CHILD FOR SALE is a heartbreaking tale about a home for unmarried mothers run by five Catholic nuns who instill nothing but fear and terror into young girls who needed compassion, understanding and support during what was a life-changing event for them.
Cheshire, 2015: When the remains of what appears to be an infant is found locked away in a tin box that had been buried in the grounds of what had been The Pines, a home for unmarried mothers in the late fifties to late sixties, police are called in.
At their home in Liverpool, Laura and Pete Maxwell are settling in for the night after birthday celebrations with the family when they see reports on the news about the find. While they are happily married now, fifty years ago they were teenagers when Laura had been incarcerated there and their baby wrenched away from her against her will. And despite the years since, they have never stopped searching for their son.
Manchester, 1964: Seventeen year old Laura Sims and her boyfriend Peter Maxwell find themselves in a quandary when Laura discovers she is pregnant. They have decided to marry but as they are under 21 they need their parents' permission to do. Peter's parents are disappointed by the turn of events but grant their blessing but Laura's mother is having none of it. How dare Laura show her up by such immoral behaviour. She refuses their request to marry and before Laura and Pete could make their escape, Audrey has Laura packed off The Pines in Cheshire. There she meets Anna, and the two forge a friendship that will see them through coming years.
But life at The Pines is a harsh one. The girls are treated like slaves with no outside contact with family or friends for the duration - their penance for their immoral ways. They were punished with no food if their work was not completed or they somehow broke the rules. When they go into labour, they are not to disturb the nuns until their contractions are two minutes apart and only then are they taken to the upstairs delivery room. Their cries could be heard from the floor below and no pain relief is given to the girls (more penance for their immoral ways) after which their babies are whisked away and are never seen again. Some of the girls are told their babies have died, whilst others were adopted to "good God-fearing families more deserving of them".
When Laura's baby son is born, she wanted nothing more than to bring him home. She and Pete were to marry, they could give their son a loving home. But the nuns wrenched him from her, Laura's last memory of his dark hair before a black mask was placed over her face and then...oblivion. When she woke to a kindly face in Olive, Laura was told her baby was gone and she was going home. Home...where was that? In the six months she'd been there, her mother had died and her aunt and uncle had sold her home, thus holding the funds from the sale in trust for her to access when she was 21. The only place she had to return to was a room in student accommodation with Pete until they could marry and buy their own home.
Five decades later and the memories resurface along with the remains. Decades old secrets that have long since been buried in those grounds bring with them the hope of being reunited with their long lost son at last. Their firstborn, cruelly snatched away without permission, stolen from them and sold for profit. Laura and Pete, along with lifelong friends Anna and Mick, as well as the police and extended family, begin the search with fresh leads at their disposal. Dare they hope? They have never given up searching for him. They've never given up hope.
Oh my. This has got to be one of Pam Howes' best yet. I have always thought the mother and baby homes, the Magdalene laundries and the like, would make a wonderful (and heartbreaking) story. And while this is fiction, such places did indeed exist. It is heartbreaking that these girls didn't receive the proper support needed in a world that was swiftly changing whilst society refused to keep up. I love the dual timeline aspect as we meet both teenage and middle-aged Laura and Pete along with Anna and Mick, as their stories unfold.
I absolutely adored this book and read it in one sitting. It is THAT good and it is such a quick read. While it may not always be an easy read, it is written in that easy style that makes the pages seemingly turn of their own accord. This story is packed full of family secrets that Laura must face as the past unravels in the present and everything ultimately comes full circle.
A pure delight to read that will bring tears to your eyes and smiles to your face throughout. Packed full of joys and sorrows, sadness and happiness, A CHILD FOR SALE is Pam Howes best yet. It goes without saying - a well deserved 5 stars.
I would like to thank #PamHowes, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #AChildForSale in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Pam Howes is an ex Interior Designer who loves creating stories, but only started writing seriously about twelve years ago. The idea for her first novel, set in the sixties, came from her time as a teenager, working in a local record store and hanging round with the musicians who frequented the business.
That first novel evolved into a series set in the fictional town of Pickford, based on her home town of Stockport. Three Steps to Heaven; 'Til I Kissed You; Always On My Mind; Not Fade Away, and That'll Be The Day, follow the lives and loves through the decades of fictional Rock'n'Roll band The Raiders.
Pam signed a second contract with the award winning publisher Bookouture with the first novel in her Lark Lane series, The Factory Girls of Lark Lane, published in July 2018. Her first series for Bookouture - The Mersey Trilogy featuring The Liverpool Girls, The Forgotten Family of Liverpool and The Lost Daughter of Liverpool - is also available in E book, paperback and as audio books.
Pam is a big fan of sixties music and it's this love and the support and encouragement of her musician partner that compelled her to write the series. Pam has three adult daughters and seven grandchildren. She lives in Cheshire and as well as writing novels, writes short stories, which have appeared in charity anthologies and online e-zines, and poems, many of which are published.
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