Review: The Love Child by Rachel Hore

A young mother's sacrifice. A child's desperate search for the truth . . .

London, 1917

When nineteen-year-old Alice Copeman becomes pregnant, she is forced by her father and stepmother to give up the baby.  She simply cannot be allowed to bring shame upon her family. But all Alice can think about is the small, kitten-like child she gave away, and she mourns the father, a young soldier, so beloved, who will never have the chance to know his daughter.

Edith and Philip Burns, a childless couple, yearn for a child of their own. When they secretly adopt a baby girl, Irene, their life together must surely be complete. Irene grows up knowing that she is different from other children, but no one will tell her the full truth.

Putting hopes of marriage and children behind her, Alice embarks upon a pioneering medical career, striving to make her way in a male-dominated world. Meanwhile, Irene struggles to define her own life, eventually leaving her Suffolk home to find work in London.

As two extraordinary stories intertwine across two decades, will secrets long-buried at last come to light?

Review: I absolutely love tales about children searching for their birth parents and families searching for each other and so I knew I had to read this book sooner rather than later. It was an absolute page turner and I read it in one long lovely sitting. 

I love the fact that this book takes place over two different story lines, we have Alice's story and we have Irene's story and we cover an extra ordinary length of time. Both of these women are strong independent women who are striving to make the most of their lives and not be put in the place that society deems they should be. Yes despite the fact that this novel is historical and mainly takes places i the time between the first and second world wars, these characters are still feminist and this is a novel about women taking their own power. 

These characters grow up in different settings but are both living in a similar time. I loved both of these characters equally and found both of their stories incredibly intriguing. Because their narratives are separate when you begin to sense that they might be about to intertwine you get that rush of adrenaline and start to turn the pages faster and faster. 

I have to admit that I did share a tear for these characters and their own personal battles. I loved reading about both of them. This book is a emotional roller coaster that will absorb you into the time and the place and I am sure will have your turning the pages until you read the end just like I did. 

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