The Orphan Twins by Lesley Eames
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, WW1
Read: 11th September 2021
Published: 23rd July 2020
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
An unputdownable saga about love and family, guaranteed to warm your heart this winter...
London, 1910. Lily is ten years old when she realises her grandmother, a washerwoman in the backstreets of London's Bermondsey, is seriously ill. She's determined to do what can she can to help and keep her grandmother's illness a secret – even from her beloved twin, Artie. But Gran isn't getting any better, and there's only so much Lily can do...
When tragedy strikes and the twins are faced with the prospect of a workhouse or an orphanage, a benefactor offers to take Artie in and educate him. All Artie's needs will be taken care of – but the gentleman has no use for a girl. The twins have lost everything they knew and loved, but they never thought they'd lose each other.
As the orphan twins grow up and take different paths, their new lives are beyond anything they could have imagined. Will they ever find a way to be together again?
Set against the backdrop of the First World War, The Orphan Twins is the heart-wrenching new saga from Lesley Eames, bestselling author of The Brighton Guest House Girls and two-time RNA Romantic Saga award nominee.
MY REVIEW:
As a big fan of historical sagas, I couldn't wait to begin THE ORPHAN TWINS. However I had a few setbacks in "real life" so I felt I wasn't able to enjoy it in its entirety as I could have. But that is to say I didn't enjoy it because I did. Life just has a way of getting in the way and affecting the pleasure I often take in a good story...and that's in no way a reflection on the author. I think it's for that reason I found the story took me a while to get into, though I found some aspects depressing (again because of my mood, not the writing) but it picked up pace for me and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it.
The year is 1910 and ten year old twins Lily and Artie live in a damp terrace house with their gran in Bermondsey in London. To make ends meet, their gran Maggie Tomkins takes in washing from various neighbours who are unable to do so. But when Lily begins to notice her gran ailing and in possible need of a doctor, she takes to running errands whilst out delivering the cleaning washing freshly ironed and saving up her halfpennies for when they need to call one out as well as skipping half days at school as her gran grows weaker. Soon the neighbours begin to notice Maggie's ailing health and offer to take in some of the washing to help out, banding together to help and to keep Lily and Artie from ending up in the workhouse.
One day whilst reciting answers to mathematical problems that Lily sets him, Artie draws the attention of Crispin Alderton, a retired schoolmaster. Believing in the value of a good education, particularly for a boy who will one day have a family to support, Mr Alderton offers to become a benefactor to young Artie taking him in, feeding him, clothing him and providing him with an excellent education. However, Artie doesn't want to leave Lily or his ailing gran but Lily is determined that Artie should receive this opportunity which will open up a variety of doors for him in the future. So it is with a heavy heart that Artie leaves their humble home and his beloved family.
It isn't long before their gran breathes her last and Lily is thrust into the workhouse. She is there just a few days when she is sent to Booth's Cottage School in Kent run by the Hendersons whom the girls must call Mother and Father. The education she will receive there will be basic with lessons mostly in domesticity in which to train them all for a life of service. Lily finds the schooling minimal and does not challenge her mind at all, all of which is redundant because women are only meant to become wives and mothers and to live a life of domesticity - be it in the home or in service. Almost at once, Lily finds herself at odds with the girl who sees herself as top dog simply for knowing the answers to the questions the teacher asks her. Rose thus makes Lily's life a misery, seeing that she is ostracised and her books and letters are stolen. And then she meets Elsie and Phyllis, and the three girls become friends making Lily's life somewhat bearable at Booth's.
Whilst at the school, Artie comes to visit on occasion and the twins continue to exchange letters. Despite his excellent education and the "posh talk" with proper enunciation, Artie never loses sight of where he comes from or the bond he shares with his sister. By the time they reach 14, Artie is boarding at a public school in Norfolk and Lily is sent into service at Beeches Mansions where she works under cook Mrs Hilda Tibbs for the Derwent family. Elsie and Phyllis have also gone into service though they dislike their employers and can't wait to seek other positions as soon as they turn sixteen. Lily enjoys her work with Mrs Tibbs and the pair develop an unlikely friendship. Then just weeks after Lily's sixteenth birthday, they receive news that the family is moving to Edinburgh and that the house is to be sold. They are to remain an extra week after the Derwent's move to prepare the house for the new family. Enraged that this has obviously been planned for some time without a thought or care for the staff, Lily confronts Mrs Derwent and ensures they will leave with glowing references.
Lily moves to London and gains a domestic position there where the family's two teenage girls bicker constantly over which one is prettiest and which one draws the most attention from suitors. She doesn't see herself remaining for long and when she comes across a Help Wanted sign in a bakery, she approaches the owner about the job. Lily is nothing if not confidant and thinks nothing of suggesting she take the rooms above the bakery as part of her employment. The owner isn't keen so she bids him good day and returns to the squabbling sisters. She happens upon the bakery a week or so later and hears her name being called. She turns to discover it is Mr Baz, the owner of the bakery. He pleads with her to come and work for him, even agreeing to her taking the rooms above the shop in which she may live.
And it is her employment at the bakery that becomes the turning point in Lily's life. Whilst Artie's education is set to open up doors for him, so too is her new position at the bakery.
THE ORPHAN TWINS is a delightful tale told solely from Lily's third person narrative. Through her we see life from Bermondsey to one in service and ultimately to a whole new opportunity through Baz's Bakery. We see her grow from the astute ten year old into a young woman of seventeen as Britain faces dark days through the Great War. No matter what obstacles life throws at her she faces them head-on and turns them into opportunities. Nor does she begrudge her brother a proper education through the kindness of Mr Alderton.
We watch Lily and Artie grow from children into young adults as they step out and face the world together. Despite their different paths, neither lost the hope that one day they would be reunited. There is a bit of love and romance, good times and laughter and above all, friendship. From her continuing friendship with Elsie and Phyllis beyond the walls of Booth's and in the real world to the one in which she shares with Hilda Tibbs, who retires to the south coast with her sister, buying and running a guest house in Hastings - both are as endearing as the other.
THE ORPHAN TWINS is a heartbreaking as well as heartwarming read that is well written. As an emotionally charged tale, you will need tissues on hand for this one but you will come away feeling as you have lived alongside them.
I was instantly reminded of Rosie Clarke's "Nellie's Heartbreak" when reading this as the journey that Lily takes is not unlike the one Nellie follows either...right down to the friendship shared with the cook she also worked under who also retired to the south coast with her sister. While each tale was similar, their journeys were also different and with vastly contrasting outcomes.
THE ORPHAN TWINS is the perfect read for fans of Lindsey Hutchinson, Shirley Dickson and Rosie Clarke. If like historical sagas and tales of orphans surviving the odds, then you will love this book.
I would like to thank #LesleyEames, #Netgalley and #AriaFiction for an ARC of #TheOrphanTwins in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Lesley has always loved writing and spent her schooldays sitting by classroom windows staring at the sky and dreaming up stories. She claims that because of this she never mastered simultaneous equations or kinetic theory but enough education filtered through to get her to university and blag her way into a series of careers – firstly as a solicitor, then as an event organiser and, in time, as a Marketing and Fundraising Development Manager for a charity.
While writing was an important part of all of those jobs, from explaining complex legal issues in plain language to composing newsletters, adverts and funding applications and as much as she enjoyed those creative outlets, Lesley's favourite kind of writing has always been fiction. People are endlessly fascinating to her and she just loves creating characters then exploring their challenges and triumphs.
Lesley has now written three historical romances set in the years from 1910 to the Roaring 20s when hardship and glamour sat side by side. The first two, The Runaway Women in London and The Brighton Guest House Girls, were shortlisted in the UK’s Romantic Novel Awards. The third, The Orphan Twins, was published in July 2020. All three books feature lively characters and explore friendship, courage, loyalty and love in difficult times.
As well as writing her own stories, Lesley has many years’ experience of mentoring other writers too.
Based in Hertfordshire UK, Lesley loves working from home because she can share the adventures of her characters while wearing slippers and drinking copious cups of tea.
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