Reviewed by Emma Crowley
The war has robbed eight-year-old orphan Elsie of everything except her older brother Jack. Evacuated together, hand in hand they escaped a cruel farming family only to find their home destroyed, their mother gone. Wide-eyed Elsie hasn’t spoken since, and every night she cries for her mother, and for their father, lost at war.
Wandering under the falling ash, their stomachs twist with hunger and Jack knows he cannot protect Elsie alone. But everything changes when they join a rag-tag band of orphans, runaway evacuees who’ve returned to the city just like them. With nothing left to lose, the children stay above ground as Nazi planes fly overhead, determined to help others. But as they risk their lives, who will protect them?
Then during a night of terrible bombing, the unimaginable happens. Elsie disappears. Their faces streaked with tears, Jack and his friends search through the flames and smoke, knowing she has no voice to respond to their cries. Will anyone find her before it’s too late? And will the lost orphans ever find a safe home?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Lost Orphans to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Lost Orphans is the first in a brand new series called The Runaway Evacuees from writing duo Ellie Curzon. I loved the previous series Village at War and this new book sees a very different setting and cast of characters from that of Bramble Heath. Set during World War Two and specifically the Blitz which caused untold loss and hardship for the citizens of London, this story follows a group of orphans from all different walks of life who do their best to navigate through turbulent times. The plot itself took a bit of time to settle down but once it did, I found myself really enjoying this tale of a plucky band of children who did incredible things in extraordinary times.
Admittedly, the first few chapters did feel a bit all over the place to be honest as they moved back and forth between 1941 and 1939 showing the origins of two orphans and how they had come to be at the orphanage. I felt I was just accustoming myself to the setting, plot and characters and their situation in 1941 and then I was jolted back to 1939 very briefly. I understand the necessity for this but I think it would have worked better to perhaps have one chapter solely dedicated to this and therefore all relevant explanation would have been provided and out of the way early on allowing the present circumstances to be explored more or less right from the get go. Aside from this issue fairly early on in the book I thoroughly enjoyed the overall story and as I have said once it found its feet everything started to fall into place and a nice rhythm occurred with plenty happening with very good overall character development. The star of the show has to be the little dog, Pippa, whom Elsie found and clings to like a safety net. You may think how could a dog have much of an overall effect on a story but it worked brilliantly here and little Pippa does deserve her own mention.
Set in the East end of London, the book has a tense opening as bombs rain down and amidst the chaos of bombs, fires and collapsing buildings 9 year old Elsie who has remained mute ever since returning from being evacuated from the countryside and upon doing so herself and her older brother Jack discovered that their mother had been killed in a raid, sets out to try and find little Pippa. Leaving the relative safety of an underground shelter she goes back to the orphanage only for a bomb to fall and obliterate the building but Jack, Ned and Connie do their best to find Elsie under the rubble alongside Lisette, a French lady who sings at a nightclub and the mysterious Wyngate who seems to appear out of nowhere but goes on to play such a crucial role throughout the entire book. The bunch of orphans hated living at the orphanage were they were more or less slaves to the nuns and their existence was viewed as nothing more than a hindrance. The nuns put on a show to the outside world and want the orphans back and will reside in a different building, but the kids have courage and tenacity and they give the nuns the slip. Now they are out on their own and have to brave the streets of London when times are tough, and they literally have nothing.
The little gang have nowhere to go and are forced to live rough and from here on in this is where their resilience and ingenuity come to the fore. They term themselves The Blitz Kids for the work they do in rescuing people caught up in the raids and earn notoriety in doing so. Despite how young they are it is truly remarkable how they look out for one another through the most challenging of times. They are so resourceful and make something from nothing time and time again but the fear of being hurt or the worst being killed in the Blitz remains a nightly threat. I found it really interesting to learn a good bit about the East End at the time and how the black market played a significant role in the plot as Ned and Jack were runners for the gangsters who operated these schemes. They did any little thing just to earn a few pence to get the gang by but this turned into something more sinister as someone is taking over the main players patch and the children of the East End involved in the running are being put in danger. This was an unexpected thread to the story which wasn’t always and the forefront and nor should it have been as the lives of the children and their resilience, bravery and tenacity were what was most important but yet said thread was a crucial piece to the overall puzzle and really made things dramatic, exciting and led to a strong climax in the final few chapters.
I’ve mentioned Lisette and Wyngate in name only but they are the two adults in the story who become like parents to the children even though they are in no way related to them or to each other. Lisette was subtly written and I feel there is still a lot more to learn about her future books. She regrets leaving Paris every day as her mother was left in the city of lights as she refused to leave and go to safety. She doesn’t know whether she is safe or dead and guilt eats away at Lisette. That’s why I felt she did so much to help the children. If she couldn’t help her mother or discover anything about her current circumstances she wanted to channel her energies into being useful. Wyngate was a pure enigma and by the end we do know a good chunk of his story but again I feel there is a lot more to come from him and even a book solely focused on himself and his exploits would be brilliant. He works for the Ministry but keeps his cards close to his chest. He appears like a knight in shining armour when the kids need him the most throughout the book having gotten themselves into situations that only an adult can get them out of. I did at some points question whether he had ulterior motives and I was desperately hoping that he was as real, caring and helpful as he came across.
The Lost Orphans was a great start to what promises to be an exciting series and you’d never know that two people were writing under one name so seamless did everything come across. OK there might have been some bits that were a bit unrealistic despite being based on a real gang of children who gained notoriety during the Blitz. I did question whether Winston Churchill would have stepped in in the manner in which he did in order help solve a very tricky situation but I suppose that’s what you can do in a work of fiction you have the liberty to play around with things. There were a few others things I did stop and think - would this really have happened? Is such and such a thing just that bit too farfetched? But then I just threw caution to the wind and enjoyed the book for what it was - an entertaining read packed full of ups and downs highlighting the bravery and indomitable spirit of those who endured the Blitz. Book two in the series, The Lifeboat Orphans, will be published in November and having a quick read of the blurb it sounds like another great read with much more in store for this hardy and courageous group of young children.
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