Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Clara Newton has dedicated her life to taking care of orphans who have nobody in the world but her. From affectionate Gladys, who desperately misses her older brothers, to traumatised Florrie who longs for her father and refuses to eat, Clara loves each of the children like they are her own.
But even though she has opened her heart to so many little ones, when brown-eyed war hero Ivor asks her to marry him, Clara is afraid to take a chance on love. Would married life prevent her from dedicating herself completely to her orphans?
Clara is soon distracted from the troubles of her heart when her beloved orphanage comes under attack. Someone throws stones through the window, and a threatening message is chalked near the door. Why would anyone want to frighten innocent children? And as the attacks get worse, can Clara keep the orphans safe?
Desperate to protect the little ones in her care, Clara takes the children on a day out. Away from the orphanage, Clara hopes that she and the children will be able to put their worries behind them. But when a terrible accident happens, will they all make it out alive? And will it be too late for Clara to tell Ivor how she really feels?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of An Orphan’s Hope to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Children Left Behind is the fourth in the Shilling Grange Children’s Home series by Lizzie Page. It underwent a title change prior to me beginning reading and I do feel the new title is more apt. At this stage, each time I return to Clara and the children at the home I feel that it’s like catching up with old friends after a short time away and checking in with them. We get to see how they are, are there any new arrivals and most importantly I feel at this stage how are things between Clara and Ivor?
If you haven’t read any of this series previously, I wouldn’t worry in the slightest as each book can be read as a standalone as little titbits of background story are given in a few sentences every now and again. Spoilers aren’t given away but just the right amount of information is provided so you are up to speed with all the goings on. Again, as with all the books, I found this to be a quick, easy and light read with the continued lovely conversational style of writing which makes you feel relaxed and at home with both the setting and the characters.
It’s July 1951 and things are going well for Clara Newton who is housemother to the orphans at the Shillings Grange Children’s Home. The home itself has had a name change thanks to the generosity of Martha, the mother of Clara’s fiancée Michael who died in the war, but really the Shilling’s Grange title has stuck. Clara has now been with Ivor for over two months but despite living across the road from each other they barely set eyes upon one another. This is proving immensely frustrating to Clara and to be honest for this reader too and I am sure many others. The author mentions in her end notes that readers had asked for Clara and Ivor to be brought together much earlier on and I admit I felt this way too but I suppose the will they/won’t they scenario had to occur to add some drama and tension to the books. Even now things aren’t all plain sailing and there is always something that gets in the way of the pair spending time together.
Clara and Ivor go on a break but they don’t always seem fully comfortable in each other’s presence. I think Clara came across as being nervy, anxious and agitated and that she couldn’t settle into her relationship with Ivor as there were always outside forces there to complicate things. Be it new arrivals coming to the home or Clara trying to form a relationship with two-year-old Patricia whom Ivor took in even though he is not her biological father. It was like the two of them were on different paths and although they deeply yearn for each other I found it strange that they let obstacles get in their way. To be honest they were each as stubborn as the other and I wanted to give them a good shake and say just take the time and sit down together and talk and really say how you feel. Forget all the external goings on in your life for awhile and just focus on each other. But due to their good kind, compassionate hearts they were always helping others when maybe a little time for themselves was needed. When Clara refutes the ultimate declaration from Ivor I thought that was it. That the relationship would really crumble but the author had plenty more twists and turns to come in the tale.
Clara feels over stretched in all aspects of her life. The demands of being a house mother change regularly and when new kids Trevor and Frank arrive and meet their sister Gladys who has been living with Clara, Peg and Florrie for several months well that’s when sinister events start to occur that really unsettle Clara and the others. As well as dealing with the numerous strange turns of events and unnerving things that start happening in and around the home she is trying to balance things with Ivor as well as the surprise arrival of her father. The relationship Clara has with her father has not been a very positive one in recent years and the chasm between them remains very wide. She misses her mother deeply and resents the fact that her father didn’t do enough to save her at the time. So the fact that he has arrived combined with the mysterious and unsettling goings on really has Clara on edge. She tries her best always to do what is right for the children and to support them but it seems when everything is against her how can she go on?
At this stage it feels like I know the characters inside out.The children are as adorable as ever with their funny one liners and quirks and I could really see Clara blossoming even further in her role. So I did understand how she was torn between abandoning those who needed her the most or else following her heart. She viewed it as the children’s needs coming first but then she questioned whether she should put her own desires and needs first for a change but seen as she had achieved so much for so many in such a short space of time should she throw it away so easily? It really did highlight how women were expected to conform to social rules at the time and this in turn limited what most could do and achieve.I’m thankful we have come so far in modern day society. Clara thinks that she can’t do right by everyone but she can do right by some and to be honest this is what she battles with throughout the story. How can she find that balance? Protect the children that she loves when they come into her care but also satisfy her own personal desires and life aspirations and the love she has for Ivor? Reading of how she tries to work all this out coupled with the mystery ( which I have to say I didn’t exactly work out who the culprits were) and the daily goings on at the home all make once again for a very enjoyable read.
I enjoyed immensely The Children Left Behind, it pushed the overall storyline on well and in my mind by the end of the book Clara had really grown up and matured an awful lot. She wasn’t as flighty and her confidence grew. She knows she is a good housemother to all those in her care and she has also tried to put some past demons to rest. Clara really concentrated on herself and her own needs in this book and I hope she continues to do so. Now with the next book being the finale to the series, I just hope that things between herself and Ivor become really solid and we get the ending we all have been wishing for since the pair first laid eyes on each other in book one. This book was a welcome addition to the series and I am really looking forward to seeing how it all concludes.
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