The Foundling by Stacey Halls
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 28th April 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 6th February 2020)
★★★★★ 5 stars
*My apologies for the delay in writing this review as I was rushed to hospital two weeks ago and then had surgery last week and now I have clots in my leg and lungs, and I haven't been up to reading or reviewing since.*
I love historical fiction and this is historical fiction at its best! I was swept away into another world from the opening page and I did not want to put it down until the end. And even then I didn't want to. It is engaging, it is engrossing and it is atmospheric.
London, 1747: Set in Georgian London, THE FOUNDLING is the story of Bess Bright, a young woman who found herself in the family way after a brief encounter with a charismatic gentleman in a dark alley. Unable to provide for her baby girl, Clara, Bess is forced to give her up at the Foundling Hospital with the clear intention of going back for her just as soon as she has saved enough money to pay for her keep at the hospital and to support them both.
The Foundling Hospital is a place where many a woman finds herself - whether they are unwed or unable to feed another mouth. They line up and pick a token from a bag to decide their baby's fate. If it is one colour, their baby is taken in, health checks pending; another means they must wait for a place and their babies declared healthy; the final colour means they are turned away. It is devastating to see the desperation of these women, most of whom are of the poorest and cannot support a child. Yet while they are giving up their babies, lining the walls are the beautifully adorned and festooned gentry with theirs fans and masks and wigs piled up high. To them, this is a form of sport they love to spectate on...the utter desperation of the poorer classes giving up their own flesh and blood. It is despicable to think the gentry see themselves far above those who cannot afford to feed or clothe their babies, and therefore must give them up. It most certainly reveals the chasm between the classes.
Bess draws out a token that puts her on a waiting list for another's child to be rejected. When she is called up, baby Clara is taken away for a health check and Bess is asked for her details. Unable to read, she can only leave an 'X' as a signature. Clara is deemed healthy for admission and Bess leaves her with a token - as proof of identity - one half of a whalebone heart with the initials 'B' (for Bess) and 'C' (for Clara) engraved within.
1754: Six years later, Bess has worked hard with her father at the docks selling shrimp, smelling like a fishwife and saving everything she could, that now she finally has enough money equivalent to two years' wages and is ready to reclaim her daughter. However, when she arrives she is shocked to discover that her daughter has already been claimed...by Bess herself! The day after she relinquished her! All these years and Clara was never at the Foundling. Bess is devastated but determined to find out who took her daughter.
In her desperation, Bess meets a young doctor and member of the Foundling Hospital and he takes pity on her story. He invites her to chapel the following Sunday where the other members of the hospital attend in the hope that they can help her in her search for Clara. It is there, Bess sees a young girl who catches her eye and is sure without a doubt that she has found her daughter.
The tables are then turned and we are swept away from the docks to the terraced houses of Bloomsbury affluence. It is here we meet Alexandra Callard, a wealthy widowed recluse who leaves the house once a week only for chapel and her young daughter Charlotte. Through the kindly Dr Mead of the Foundling, Alexandra takes on a nursemaid for Charlotte, despite her worry about allowing another person into the house that she has filled with secrets.
Eliza moves into the Callard household as nursemaid to 6 year old Charlotte, a bright and lively child who yearns for life on the outside. Her mother, Alexandra, has not set foot outside (except for chapel) since her husband Daniel died before Charlotte was born and for reasons known only to Alexandra, has therefore become a recluse and insisting her child be also. Eliza is young but very capable in her position as nursemaid, taking little Charlotte under her wing as they giggle together and become fast friends. For while Charlotte lives a life of privilege and wants for nothing, money may be plentiful but it is soon obvious that love is not.
But unbeknownst to Alexandra, Eliza has an agenda. One of which she did not foresee or ever expect. And when one night, those intentions are made clear, the lives of these two women are changed forever.
Alternating between Bess and Alexandra, THE FOUNDLING is divided into "parts" that are told in the respective narratives of both women. I loved this aspect as the reader becomes privy to each character's thoughts and the complexities of their lives as we watch the two become intertwined to create an even bigger picture.
THE FOUNDLING is an incredibly well-researched tale and, although fiction, the hospital and its history shine within these pages bearing a sad reflection of life in Georgian times. The attention to detail given to the story reflects the chasm between the two main characters and their vastly different lifestyles, of that between the rich and the poor, in 18th century London. The two women couldn't be more different. Bess who, from a world of hawking by the docks for a living, is naturally warm and loving in nature while Alexandra, in her ivory tower of affluence and money, is cold, remote and distant. Bess is on the streets every day selling shrimp while Alexandra sits alone in her withdrawing room talking to the portraits of her dead parents.
I didn't like Alexandra to begin with but as the story unfolds and we find out more about her it soon becomes clearer why she is the way she is, and as the reader we understand her a little better. But having said that, my sympathies were always with Bess and her own heartbreaking situation. Just because you are not born into money shouldn't dictate whether you are able to love and provide for your child just as much as the next person. Life in Georgian London certainly proved to be a cruel time in which to live and having to face the desperate decision of whether to leave your newborn baby to the fate of strangers in a hospital in the hope one would be able to save the money to reclaim them at a later time is heartbreaking. Which just makes Bess' tale even more poignant.
A captivating tale from beginning to end, THE FOUNDLING is atmospheric and well written detailing the social injustices of the time, motherhood and love. But at the heart of the story is the question of what is more important: love and affection amidst a life of poverty, or a life of luxury without love?
While there is no real mystery as to how the two women are linked, there are several puzzling aspects of how and why that are gradually revealed making THE FOUNDLING an engrossing and addictive read that will leave you wanting more. Unlike many others, I loved the ending as no real closure is one of my pet hates in a book.
If you are looking for a dark historical tale fraught with social injustice yet filled with strong characters and a beautifully intricate plot, then look no further. THE FOUNDLING is definitely for you! I loved it from start to finish and it is well worth every star.
I would like to thank #StaceyHalls, #NetGalley and #BonnierBooksUK for an ARC of #TheFoundling in exchange for an honest review.
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