The Orphan's Secret by Shirley Dickson
Genre: Wartime fiction, Historical fiction, WW2
Read: 30th November 2021
Audio
Published: 9th November 2021
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
England, 1940: A tear-jerking wartime tale of an orphaned baby who needs a home, and the woman who risks everything to provide it. Fans of Before We Were Yours, Wives of War and Diney Costeloe will be utterly swept away by this heartbreaking – yet beautifully hopeful – World War Two page-turner.
With the war raging, Lily has learned not to take life for granted. In a time of such tragedy, every day is a gift. Her husband is a soldier, fighting to save their country, and she prays that she will survive – to one day welcome him home.
One sweltering July night, bombs rain down. Lily and her dear friend Ethel, who is nine months pregnant, seek refuge in a shelter. Miraculously, a baby girl is born to the sound of ear-splitting shrieks and explosions in the distance. Once the raid quietens, Lily races into the house to find the newborn a blanket. But then the unthinkable happens, planes thundering right over the rooftops…
When Lily rouses, finding herself amongst broken glass and crumbled brick, she is devastated to discover that Ethel has been killed – leaving little Joy behind. With tears rolling down her face, Lily makes a split-second decision.
To save the orphaned child, Lily must tell a heartbreaking lie, a secret that she holds close to her chest for years. But when the truth comes out, whose lives will be destroyed? And will she ever be forgiven?
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour (albeit a little late) for Shirley Dickson's heartbreaking historical tale THE ORPHAN'S SECRET.
Shirley Dickson really knows how to tug at your emotions and this one was no different. But what was different to her previous books was that the story does not specifically revolve around a child or children but is the story of Lily whose greatest desire is to have a child with her soldier husband John. But her journey there is not an easy one and fraught with many heartbreaks along the way. A child is the primary focus by the end of the book but, unlike Shirley's other historical tales, not throughout.
The year is 1941 and Lily Armstrong has the most exciting news to impart to her family. John Radley has just proposed via letter and they are to be married next week during his four-day leave! However, her excitement dwindles when her mother refutes the idea as ridiculous particularly in such a short time. But her father, who rules the home, overruled her still angry mother who then left the house in a furious huff...only to return some time later drenched and cold from the rain and full of apologies for her only daughter.
Her wedding day was a memorable one ending with a couple of nights in a guest house that John had rented for their shortened honeymoon. Lily's greatest fear was having to spend her wedding night under her parents' roof whilst her brothers played some childish prank like filling their bed with flour or such like. At least at the guest house they could enjoy their time together...maybe even start a family. Although Lily didn't want the life of drudgery she saw her own mother suffer after bearing five children and two miscarriages and wanting something more for her life, she couldn't wait till she and John became parents. It was her greatest desire. For Lily had the heart of a mother. But fate had other plans...and Lily endured heartbreak after heartbreak.
With John away fighting abroad, Lily wanted to do something. Life at home was relentless in drudgery and life at the house John's mother have gifted them was big, empty and lonely with no one to share it with. She desired more from her life before settling down and with John away what better way than to serve the war effort. She trained and volunteered to drive ambulances, ferrying the injured during air raid after air raid. Then one day she heard the Women's Land Army were recruiting and felt she could see herself working the land for the war effort. And so she joined the Women's Timber Corp and was sent to Scotland where she was trained in felling trees. There she met the vivacious and frank Bella Campbell who had a story of her own to tell...but one she wasn't quite yet ready to share.
Then one day, Lily was seconded to another camp where they needed a driver desperately before she finished her own training. She was disappointed to leave Bella but the two women promised to keep in touch. But upon arrival, the air was thick with discord when news of one of the women apparently fraternising with one of the German POWs which was strictly forbidden. The woman in question, Ethel, was ostracised by most of the corp but Lily decided to reach out and befriend the young woman...and in turn, some of the other women softened towards Ethel. And then Lily got the surprise of her life when Bella turned up at the camp with the news that she was to work in the stables.
When things take a turn and Lily realises that she is pregnant, she decides to do everything she can to ensure this child survives. But then she also discovers that Ethel, too, is with child and with the realisation that they can no longer do the heavy work of Lumberjills, Lily decides to invite Ethel to come home with her while they await the respective births of their babies. Ethel, having been orphaned, has nowhere else to go and Lily welcomes to company of someone else in her large and sprawling home in South Shields. Whilst there, Ethel works on a colourful blanket she calls a memory quilt in which she has stitched many squares detailing aspects that tell the story of her life...which she is making for her baby. Lily in enthralled by the idea and asks Ethel to tell her what each square means and the story behind them. The final square has yet to be added, which will feature Ethel's time in Lily's home, with which Lily has extended the offer to her friend indefinitely.
But then fate intervenes and everything changes in a heartbeat. A promise made in the huddle of a backyard shelter to the reality that it becomes. But the decisions made will have irrevocable consequences leaving a trail of deceit and guilt and the possibility that whatever the outcome there will be no guarantees. And so the journey of heartbreak continues...
The story begins in 1953 with a young girl and her younger brother playing hide and seek, in the process coming across a colourful hand-stitched blanket that had the little girl in awe of its creation. When her daddy opens her bedroom door to remind her that bedtime was long past, she shoves the coveted quilt under her covers before her father can see. But alas he has and she is then prompted to ask what it means. And so the plot segues back to 1941 where Lily's story begins...
THE ORPHAN'S SECRET is not so much as the orphan's secret but Lily's and as the story unfolds it is clear that it is Lily's story and no one else's. From the beginning the reader is privy to Lily's most devastating heartbreaks and silent thoughts as she experiences the intense pain of loss and heartbreak time and time again. And yet she is a strong woman, as the generation who lived through the war were. The stoic stiff upper lip of the British as they endured day after day and night after night of relentless bombing as what had originally been dubbed as "the phoney war" dragged on for six long years. The story follows Lily from her betrothal to John and their marriage, most of which was lived apart throughout the war, and the ensuing years from VE Day up to 1954 as events slowly played out and the mystery of the prologue becomes clearer.
This is Shirley Dickson's fifth historical novel and I have read every one of them since she debuted with "The Orphan Sisters" and one thing I enjoy spotting is each book's relation to each other. Every book features, either in actuality or in reminiscence, the orphanage Blakely Hall run by Mrs Knowles (I believe her name was) which is where the journey began in her first book with sisters Etty and Dorothy who spent many of their formative years there until they were released for domestic service. Each subsequent book since has featured another young girl who has come from or spent some time in the orphanage. There is also the often-made reference to funeral direction Mr Newman who features in passing in almost every book too. I like how Shirley Dickson has kept each book tied to the other without it being a series. Very clever of her.
As with the unfolding plot in THE ORPHAN'S SECRET, you will be taken on an emotional rollercoaster through heartbreaks and happiness, sorrow and joy as often taboo topics of the time feature - forbidden love, pregnancy out of wedlock, miscarriage, still birth - along with the more common themes of air raids, wounded soldiers, death and loss. The author also explores the question of whether a lie of omission is really a lie and it's a question you will find yourself tying yourself in knots over also.
As with most historical tales of this time, THE ORPHAN'S SECRET is a heartbreaking read but one that offer a little hope by the book's end. Even amidst the secrets, deceit and guilt.
I thoroughly enjoyed THE ORPHAN'S SECRET, as I do every Shirley Dickson novel, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to others who enjoy wartime fiction and those featuring the plights of women, children and orphans.
I would like to thank #ShirleyDickson, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheOrphansSecret in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Shirley Dickson was born and grew up in the seaside town of South Shields. She left school at fifteen and can’t remember a time when she didn’t write. She entered her first short story competition in ‘School Friend’ when she was eleven. After Shirley retired from auxiliary nursing, she was able to devote her time to writing.
After living in various locations, she settled under the big skies of Northumberland and has lived with her husband in the same house for over forty years. Shirley has three daughters and four grandchildren and likes nothing better than family gatherings.
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