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

Thoroughly enjoyed 💜

I love the two for one sales because it allows me to do two things I very rarely do. To read books by new authors, and to read books under an absolute minimum of 10 hours. This book was both, and I was absolutely pleased at the story!

Its about two women. One who was not in a position to raise the baby that she very much wanted, and of another woman who was in a position to raise a baby, but maybe was unsure how she felt about being a mother. I think the description given about the book saying “her past is threatening to catch up to her,” is less accurate than saying “her past was holding her back from living.”

Possible spoilers in this paragraph, so don’t read if you don’t like spoilers. Bess meets Daniel and is quickly infatuated, and they share a quick night of sex. She ends up pregnant then learns that he has died. When the baby is born, she has no choice, due to the poverty, to take her to the foundling home, with the intention to get her when shes older. She goes back to get her six years later, but shes gone. She had been picked up at one day old by someone claiming to be her, Bess. Meanwhile, Alexandra has been raising her husband’s daughter as her own. She had a traumatic event happen when she was very young and it debilitated her ability to live without fear as well as to connect with others. She hires Bess to be the daughters nursemaid, obviously not even suspecting Bess is the real mother, even though Bess knew.

The story plays out in such a way that you kind of feel for both women for the very different things they’ve endured. There is a very small whisper of romance for both women and that was sweet and nice. I felt like tge end result solution was not actually something would ever really happen, but who cares, its fiction right? We all love a happy ending. (Thats not a spoiler! I never said happy for who! Lol) There were plenty of secondary characters who were all fun to read. Except one, and what a huge disappointment that character turned out to be.

Both narrators did a great job and I would absolutely listen to either one again with anticipation!

Definitely worth a half credit! Would it be worth a whole credit? Thats hard for me. I need to rreeaalllyy be invested in an author or series, or for the book to be a nice long one, in order for me to spend a whole credit.

Touching

I was intrgued by the publishers description. I enjoy Victorian stories, mostly because the language is usually toned down and things are usually modest. But it seems like I was barely into the first few chapters and the f-bomb went off. I normally stop listening or reading books with foul language like that but I decided to continue and if more offensive language like that occurred, I would give it up. There was none. So that is why I rated it overall a 3 star, but the story was a 4 star read.

Lovely story fabulous narrators

Really exceptional narration from excellent actors. Beyond the normal standards. A lovely story with an ending that those surprising is also believable and satisfying. Writer has a light touch and conjours the world beautifully. (I’m both a writer and an actor and so very picky). Heartfelt!

Couldn't put it down. Start to finish it kept me interested to what came next

Start to finish the story kept me interested.
Looking forward to the next book by this author

An absolute treasure!

This was the first book in awhile that I could not wait to listen to! The narration was excellent and I was absolutely engrossed in the story, especially Bess. The descriptive detail and the talented narrators brought the characters to life. I will look for more from this author for sure!

Loved!

I loved everything about this book. The narrators. The story. Loved it! I wish I could listen to it again for the first time.

You don’t want to miss this one

What an amazing book. The characters are well written and the narrator is on point. Fell in love with all of the people. Great book, don’t miss this one!!

A nod to Mark Twain

This story reminded me of one of my favorites authors..Mark Twain. I recommend this story to anyone loving Twain and stories like Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. The performances are excellent, contributing to the Twain like style. Give it a listen..you won’t be disappointed!

The Lost Orphan

This book was very wordy and slow. The storyline was just ok.......I was kind of disappointed in this book. Not enough happened for me. Boring.

kept my attention

I struggled to get used to the strong accent. but am glad I kept going