I came across this book from Mallika’s excellent review over on Literary Potpourri. I’ve been keen to pick it up ever since – both because I enjoyed The Familiars by the same author, and because I actually take my two-year-old to the play area that rests on the old site of the Foundling Hospital which is a key setting in the novel, so have always been interested in its history. 

I loved the hook of this novel, which has a wonderful air of mystery surrounded by very human feeling. Set in Georgian London, we meet Bess Bright, a lower class young woman, who leaves her newborn daughter at the Foundling Hospital so that it can be well cared for, intending to save money to then reclaim her later. But when she returns after six years, she discovers that her daughter is gone – reclaimed (apparently), the day after she was brought to the hospital, by none other than… Bess Bright. 

There was a lot I really liked about this book, and a few quibbly thoughts. The latter did not end up impacting how engaging I found the read, but I did nevertheless find my reactions interesting.

The novel is told from two perspectives – that of Bess, and that of Alexandra, a slightly older and very much richer mother, who takes Bess on as a nursemaid. I particularly enjoyed reading from Bess’ perspective – her voice felt authentic and likeable, and the lives of the poorer half of London felt very real through her eyes. Alexandra was also interesting, being a protagonist who I found ultimately unlikeable – yet who still had me wanting to turn pages. 

The descriptions of life in Georgian London seemed well researched and were engagingly described, such that I felt immersed both in the gritty, narrow passages of Bess’ slope-floored home within the city walls, and in Alexandra’s stately but lonely three floor house in Bloomsbury. 

In terms of quibbles, I did feel that there were some about-turns for both main characters towards the end which for me could have benefitted from some earlier set-up, in the form of reader insight into the critical motivations, inner lives, choices and changes that each character was experiencing. We do experience some of that, with Alexandra’s backstory in particular, but I did still find the ending a little abrupt. 

I think part of why this was, structurally, is that the two perspectives were told in big chunks, rather than skipping between both in a faster way. So the whole beginning of the novel is from Bess’ perspective and a big chunk of the middle from Alexandra’s, and by the time we come back to Bess there have been some really crucial things happening to her that we have had no direct sight of, because we haven’t been in her head. Equally, Alexandra’s choices at the end do not seem to match up well to the choices she makes all the way through the book, because we are apart from her at a really critical time for her character development around the 75% mark – and I think I would personally have enjoyed a more gradual and explicit transition. 

That said, I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it. It’s well-told historical fiction, with an intimate cast, and a really good hook that has you wondering from the get go.