Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Clara Newton is the new Housemother of Shilling Grange Orphanage. Many of the children have been bombed out of their homes and left without families, their lives torn apart by the war, just like Clara’s. Devastated by the loss of her fiancé, a brave American pilot, she is just looking for a place to start again.
But the orphans are in desperate need of her help. Funds are short, children cry out in the night, and tearful Rita tells Clara terrible stories about the nuns who previously ran Shilling Grange. Clara cannot bear to see them suffer, but what does she know about how to look after eight little ones?
Clara can’t get anything right, and then she accidentally ruins Rita’s only memento of her mother. Overwhelmed, she wonders if they’d be better off without her. But she’s not completely alone. Living next door is Ivor: ex-Shilling Grange resident, war hero, and handyman with deep brown eyes. He doesn’t trust Clara and she is fiercely independent, but he has a way with the children. And with his support and the help of other locals, Clara begins to find her way.
As she heals from her grief and adjusts to her new life, Clara wonders if she has finally found her home and family among the orphans. Can she find the strength to fight for them when nobody else will? And dare she open her heart to love again?
Many thanks to Bokouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Orphanage to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Orphanage is the first in the new Shilling’s Grange Children’s Home series by Lizzie Page. I have read all her previous books and this one is a vast departure from those that were set during the war years. It took me quite some time to get into this story and it was only past the halfway mark that I really began to enjoy the exploits of Clara and the orphans in her care. I think I had become so accustomed to the author’s previous style of books that that’s what me take so long to really connect with the book. The chapters are short and precise and I found overall the story was written in quite a simple conversational style detailing what occurred daily at Shilling’s Grange and how Clara did her best to transform the lives in her care even though she was so far out of her comfort zone. The transformation all of the characters go through was enjoyable to read about and I definitely want to read book two because I thought it was great that everything wasn’t so neatly resolved by the end. There was enough left unsaid at the end to whet your appetite to make the reader want to return for future instalments.
In 1948 Clara Newtown has lost her secretarial job in a London factory which has been her comfort zone for many years. She still mourns the loss of her American fiancée Michael, who was killed in action during the war, and she is estranged from her father who does missionary work. She has a close friend Judy whom she stayed with for a time but Judy’s husband Arthur is deeply affected by the war and Clara doesn’t feel comfortable imposing on their hospitality for a long period. I thought Judy’s aspect of the story was developed very well, the reader could get the hints that were being dropped. Clara interviews for the position of house mother of Shilling Grange Children’s Home in Lavenham, Suffolk and to her surprise she gets the job.
Right from the get go you can tell that Clara is a complete fish out of water and she has been taken so far out of her normal routine. But she is the one who wished for a change in her life and so she must stay at the orphanage. She gives herself six weeks and then she knows she can get out of the job and return to London to do something else. I liked how she wasn’t afraid to admit her failures and faults and acknowledged that maybe this hadn’t been the right decision for her. She knows nothing as to how an orphanage runs and how can she interact with children who have come from such varied backgrounds full of trauma and loss. The children she believes are like animals in a zoo and the hostility experienced from the villagers shows how they don’t want an orphanage located in the village bringing the tone of the place down.
Clara faces much opposition in the form of the children themselves, the villagers and the actual system and its rules that orphanages abide by. Prior to her arrival the orphanage had been run by nuns and their strict systems remain in place. She can see changes need to be made but with everything so ingrained how can she achieve this? She seems to do everything wrong and she can’t connect with the children but can this change over time? There were an awful lot of characters introduced and it became hard to keep track of who was who and what their background story was. A little line or two outlining the characters prior to the story starting proper might have been helpful for the reader. I found the story flitted about a bit and there wasn’t a specific focus on individual children. Rather several were mentioned in a chapter and then it moved on to someone else and at some points not much happened rather there was just general descriptions of what happened on a daily basis and I felt something exciting or life altering needed to happen to add a little drama and spice to things. As I previously said it’s only past the mid-point that I felt things took off and I became invested in the story.
The children that feature are twins Billy and Barry, Maureen, Peg, Rita, Alex, Terry and Peter. They all have their individual stories as to why they came to be at Shillings Grange but again I would have liked more detail about certain orphans which I feel would have made me able to keep track of who was who a bit more easily. Clara slowly starts to change her attitude and viewpoint. She begins to realise that these children can’t help the situation they find themselves in and that she must do her best by the them. In doing so a form of healing starts to occur for Clara herself and she wants to make a positive difference to their lives. She knows the children need reliability, consistency and commitment and by trying to establish these Clara highlights how women can do extraordinary things especially in the face of so many obstacles in relation to the orphanage system. She learns you don’t do things for recognition rather because they are right. Romance does feature in this story alongside the personal stories of the orphans and Clara went down a path that the reader could see was potentially really not for her. I know what I want to happen with regard to this aspect of the story but I feel there is a lot to played out before this can happen.
I enjoyed the fact the author is trying something new with this series and despite that I found it not as easy to get into once I did, I did enjoy it. Fans of previous books from Lizzie Page be prepared that this is very different but do make sure to give it a try. New readers will find it to be an easy and enjoyable read.
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