The Irish Adoption House (The Irish Adoption House #1) by Michelle Vernal
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 5th August 2025
Published: 7th August 2025
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Ireland, 1920. ‘Please. Don’t take her from me. Have some mercy, Sister. Just a moment longer.’ She clutched the bundle to her chest even tighter. But she couldn’t stop them. Hearing her baby’s cries echo in the hallway, she swore that one day they would be together again…
When the man she thought she’d marry suddenly disappears Maudie O’Connor is heartbroken. Then she finds out she’s pregnant. Refusing her pleas to keep the baby, her family send her to St Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home in disgrace.
Lying in bed after a harrowing birth, it’s all worth it as she cradles her precious little girl. But the nuns tear the newborn from her grasp. Maudie’s only solace is that she is able to spend a few minutes a day feeding her. Then, one morning, her baby is nowhere to be seen.
Determined to find out what happened to her daughter, Maudie sneaks out after curfew, past the nuns guarding the record room. And when she finds her entry, her breath catches. Not only has her little girl been given up for adoption, she’s been sent several thousand miles to Savannah, Georgia, USA.
With her family disowning her, and not a penny to her name, how will Maudie even start the vast and lonely journey across the ocean? With no one to help her and so little information to go on, how can she hope to find the family who adopted her precious baby? And even if she does – will her little girl ever be given back to Maudie, where she truly belongs?
Have the tissues ready for this emotional and page-turning historical novel set in Ireland, perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe.
MY THOUGHTS:
A baby torn from her mother...will they be reunited...?
Life in the 1920s was very different to life as we know it now in the 2020s. But life in 1920s Ireland was a whole different concept that few of us could ever bear imagining. It's not just a case of "how much people got away with" as to it being more how they themselves were raised - that being, it's all they had known. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around that concept today but life was different then - especially if you were a Catholic in Ireland. There is nothing like Catholic guilt to shame one into submission. Added to that was all the unrest that Ireland itself was awash with in their fight for independence from the United Kingdom.
From rural Ireland to Savannah, Georgia, crossing the Atlantic from the 1920s to 1985, we meet Maudie O'Connor in the midst of Ireland's unrest. Her sweetheart Ronan Quinn who along with his family are fighting hard for their country's independence from the British, and if the Black and Tans were anything to go by it's no wonder! Maudie has been in love with Ronan for as long as she could remember - ever since he rescued her from JP Hennessey's cruel teasing of her fiery red hair. But her family have forbidden her from seeing him, though that hasn't stopped her from sneaking out to see him.
When whispers reach her ears of a possible raid, Maudie knows she must warn Ronan at once. But to her own peril and dire consequences. Bruised, battered and muddied, Maudie stumbles into her mam's kitchen before collapsing to the floor. For three days she was awash with fever that kept her in bed. When she recovered, her older sister discovered she was pregnant. But Catholic guilt shamed her when she told her mam who organised for her to be sent to St Patrick's Mother and Baby Home in Dublin, her parents having washed their hands of her completely. She had brought shame to their name.
Life in the Mother and Baby Home was dire. It was cruel and harsh and the only thing that kept Maudie going was the belief that she and Ronan would be reunited to bring their child up together. The nuns in the Home were mostly harsh but one, Sister Louise who at least showed some compassion. But the moment Maudie gave birth, her baby was whisked from her arms. She was allowed to see her and feed her each morning but no more. All babies were bottle fed throughout the day and night.
Then one morning, Maudie arrived at the nursery to nurse baby Emer, as she had named her, to discover her daughter gone. No matter how much she pleaded or cried, the nuns would not disclose where her child had disappeared to. Emer was gone.
But Maudie vowed to do everything in her power to find her baby and be reunited with her, even if it meant scouring the country for her. She creeps downstairs in the middle of the night and locks herself in the Reverend Mother's office, searching her files for any mention of her and her baby. And she finds it. Emer was adopted by an American couple and was now in Savannah, Georgia.
Her own family having disowned her, Maudie decided then and there that she will find her child and she will be reunited with her. Scrambling out the window and without a penny to her name, Maudie makes her way back to the only person she knows and trusts will help her - her older sister Nora. And with Nora's help, she makes her way to America. Her sights set on Savannah and being reunited with her baby.
With all the odds against her, Maudie arrives in Savannah where her new life awaits her. But will she find her baby in this big bustling town? And if she does, will her little girl ever be given back to Maudie?
This was a heartwarming, though often heartbreaking, dual timeline tale spanning the years and continents. I must admit I found the beginning drag a little with so much focus on the RIC, the IRA and Ireland's fight for independence. It was a bloodthirsty time and one I don't particularly relish in reliving in print but it did give background to Maudie's story. The story got more interesting when she was shipped off to the Mother and Baby Home and then her journey to America. It was hard to sympathise with Maudie's family but then that is how it's been penned. Our sympathies lie with Maudie and her predicament for which we see no blame with her but that is not how life was seen in those days particularly those of Irish Catholics, whose roots were buried deep in misguided belief.
Without spoiling anything, this is a heartwarming story with a beautiful ending. I particularly liked the epilogue and the nod to the Carolina wren at the very end. Readers will understand its significance and I thought it was a lovely touch.
And while many may have wished for more about Cecilia, I am pleased to see that Cecilia's story will be told in the second book coming in November this year. I certainly look forward to it.
I would like to thank #MichelleVernal, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheIrishAdoptionHouse in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Michelle Vernal never set out to become a writer—at least not until she joined a creative writing class while on maternity leave with her first son. Fast forward a few years (and more than a few cheese scones), and she’s now the author of over thirty feel-good, funny, and emotionally rich novels that have captured readers’ hearts around the world.
Her stories, often described as “laugh-out-loud,” “utterly heartwarming,” and “the kind of book you read with a smile,” include the bestselling Little Irish Village series, the much-loved Irish Guesthouse on the Green, and the time-slip favourite, The Dressmaker series.
Michelle lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband, two sons, and a pair of particularly spoiled tabby cats, Humphrey and Savannah.
Her latest book, The Irish Adoption House is available for Kindle pre-order now and will be released in all other formats on August 7, 2025.
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