The Lost Orphan

By: Stacey Halls

Narrated by: Imogen Church, Elizabeth Knowelden

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A Sunday Times best seller!

Two women, bound by a child, and a secret that will change everything....

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate newborn at the Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the daughter she has never known. Dreading the worst, that she has died in care, she is astonished to discover someone pretending to be Bess has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside-down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.

Less than a mile from Bess' poor lodgings, in a quiet Georgian townhouse, lives Alexandra, a reclusive young widow. When her close friend - an ambitious doctor at the orphanage - persuades her to hire a nursemaid to help care for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

From the best-selling author of The Familiars comes this captivating story of mothers and daughters, class and power, and love against the greatest of odds....

“A gripping tale of motherhood, loss, and redemption. Hall’s distinctive characters and scrupulous historical detail drop us into a rich, Dickensian world full of desperation and lies, and shows us just how far a mother will go to hold onto her child.” (Serena Burdick, international best-selling author of The Girls with No Names)

"The new Hilary Mantel!" (Cosmopolitan)

©2020 Stacey Halls (P)2020 Harlequin Audio

could NOT stop listening!!

This book was so good from start to finish! i highly recommend!! (and I am very choosy!)

A view from a time gone by.

Story of strength and love rising from extreme poverty and hardship for one, juxtaposed against the life of another sad and unfulfilling existence, but comfortable nonetheless. A small peek into the worlds of two women living vastly different lives in a very different time, but doing the best they could for those they love.

Great Narration

The author had interesting historical elements woven into the story. I enjoyed how the characters developed throughout the book.

Riveting story set in the 1700s

Riveting story set in the 1700s, brings to life the reality of women's lives where they had limited rights and options, and where the poor had even less. The things you'd automatically assume one can do today were non existent or possible during that time. How does one prove that a child left at the foundling hospital is one's child without the benefit of DNA testing that we take for granted today?
And how does one retrieve the child when one has no understanding of the law nor the means to use it?
Made me wonder how long these conditions persisted into the 20th century....

The narration was very good, switching between the different characters and relaying their emotions.

Excellent

I just love historical novs! This one was perfect in every way possible. Highly recommend

Fantastic narrating!

The voices and inflection, even the pauses seemed spot on in the narrating! I throughly enjoyed this production! It carried me away, visualizing all the details and nuances of the fine details in characters and surrounds. Wonderful writing! Highly recommend!

I could not stop listening

What a great listen, the narration is superb and the story well written. I wish I could find more by this author.

Narrator

The narrator that plays Bess has a fantastic voice, however, she has a way of being overly dramatic in all of the books I have heard from her. The continually wavering voice is too much. If she would tone it down a bit and use that trick MUCH less often, she would be perfect IMHO.

Very well presented

Wonderful story easy to follow characters identifying with each of them visually A ++++ well worth the listen

Very good listen & interesting people & story line

Great story line , interesting people & held my attention! Would recommend , especially for 2 for 1