A Mother's Shame by Rosie Clarke
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas
Read: 14th July 2022
Published: 5th July 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
East End of London
Maggie Bailey has not had an easy childhood. Her father, Michael, always too easy with his fists after spending the family’s rent money down the pub.
Just sixteen, in love and blinded by promises, Maggie sees marriage to handsome Jack as her great escape. However, she soon finds herself abandoned with a beautiful baby when Jack disappears. Maggie is forced to seek a new life away from the East End of London and finds herself a job at a hotel in Eastbourne.
Here she must learn to fend for herself and also accept a shocking discovery that she was fostered as a babe and nothing is known of her real parents.
Her employer, Aunt Beth, is kind and her life improves – but Maggie makes one mistake after another and, eventually, they lead to a terrible tragedy that will bring her to the point of no return.
Will Maggie ever find true happiness and discover the secret of her birth?
MY THOUGHTS:
I love Rosie Clarke's books and she is one of my go-to historical saga authors. I have enjoyed her Harpers Emporium series as well Blackberry Farm and a few of her standalones. A MOTHER'S SHAME is simply delightful and although heartbreaking it is also a heartwarming tale.
Set in London, the story begins in 1925 and Maggie Bailey is living with her mother, father and younger brother Robin. Her elder sister Sadie is married, lives a few streets away and is expecting her first baby. Her father is an abusive brute who is quick with his fists with her mother and lately has set his sights on Maggie. But she stands her ground and locks her bedroom door to stop him from venturing in at night.
Maggie works at a bakery bringing home the much-needed income to support her family, particularly when her father becomes unable to work after an incident involving a pan of hot water. Now her mother must nurse her father and Maggie must find herself a second job working nights to earn the income her father would have down at the docks. She meets Bill Biggins and his wife Ann who are thrilled to give her a job in their cafe. Ann is expecting a child and is unable to put in the long hours. Soon Maggie is running between her day job at the bakery and her hours at the cafe. But when Bill offers her a better wage to work there full time, Maggie is thrilled.
It is when she is walking home from the cafe one evening that she meets Jack Holmes who charms her off her feet almost at once. The two are no strangers to each other having crossed paths on occasion but now that she is almost 17, Jack has thrown his cap at Maggie and they soon find themselves walking out together. But Jack has big plans for himself and Maggie. He wants to marry her but not yet...not until he has established himself well enough to take care of her. But when circumstances arise, Maggie escapes her abusive home life to marry Jack.
If she thought life was to be a bed of roses after her marriage to Jack, she was to be sadly mistaken. But Maggie wears no rose coloured glasses and knows not to expect much from life. When Jack disappears, Maggie despairs as to how she will cope on her own, particularly when her only friend succumbs also. She decides to make a new life for herself outside of London and ventures to a place she has only heard about. Her responsibilities continue to pile up as do the tragedies that follow her. She is determined to make something of herself by improving her life, and that of her brother Robin, and tackling whatever comes her way. But life continues to throw cruelties and injustice her way and in another bid to escape, Maggie finds herself in yet another situation she has stupidly put herself into in a bid to give them a roof over their heads. So what else is there to do? Escape yet again. It seems that Maggie does a lot of running away in this story but she also made a lot of stupid decisions as well.
Throughout the story, Maggie is on a journey to find herself and her place in life. Little did she know she didn't have to go far to find it...for it landed in her lap when she least expected it. It was the most heartbreaking and touching moment for what was lost, what could have been and what never will be. But it was also a promise of a new life, a chance to do what she always wanted to do and to love and be loved. The mystery behind her parentage is cleverly woven into the story and is something of a poignant touch.
Poor Maggie certainly didn't have much luck through most of the story. Tragedy seemed to follow her where ever she went. But she faced them with strength and resilience...and still came through the other side. A MOTHER'S SHAME is a poignant story that is a well written addictive read from start to finish. I especially loved the format in which it was written with Maggie retelling her story to the Sally Army man, Thomas, going back and forth as her story unfolded. It was different perspective for Rosie Clarke but it works incredibly well and I loved it.
I loved A MOTHER'S SHAME so much more than I thought I would and has to be my favourite of the author's thus far. I thoroughly recommend it for fans of historical fiction sagas.
I would like to thank #RosieClarke, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #AMothersShame in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Rosie loves shoes, especially those impossibly high heels you can buy and has a gorgeous pair of Jimmy Choos but can't wear them so they sit on the mantlepiece.
Rosie also writes under the name of Anne Herries and Linda Sole.
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