Naomi Finley

The Winters family has lived in poverty since the death of fifteen-year old Hazel and six-year old William's father. Hazel and William try to do their best on the streets, but after their mother loses her position, she makes the decision to place Hazel and William in an orphan's home. The home, however, is in the business of shipping the children to other countries to be farmed out as indentured servants. Hazel and William are placed on a boat to Canada and separated. Hazel can't bear to be separated from William, but her placement in a home where the previous girl died suddenly does not bode well for Hazel. Luckily, Hazel's situation has caught the attention of two of the children's home staff, Charlotte and Ellie who were also separated in the system and were able to find one another later in life.
The Forsaken Children is an intimate look into the lives of two pairs of siblings who were separated in Britain's exportation of impoverished children. The point of view changes between Hazel and Charlotte who are both determined, caring and mentally strong. Hazel and Charlotte's stories are heartbreaking and emotional showing their fortitude in survival when everything is against them. I was especially engrossed by Hazel's time with the family that took her, the Gagnon's. Mrs. Gagnon was especially repulsive and I was amazed that anyone was able to survive her treatment. Hazel's story is a reminder of the strength of these children who were overcoming immense hardships and difficult living situations while keeping a state of mind for survival. The Forsaken Children is an in-depth look at an often overlooked time in history where countries were brokering impoverished children as slaves to grow their workforce and economies.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (plus d'informations)

It's 1921 in England. There are many impoverished children living on the streets of London. Most of them have lost their parents and are on their own trying to get food and shelter. British organizations sent more than 100,000 children from the United Kingdom to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa with the hope of a better life for them. This novel is the story of several children sent from the streets of London to Canada.

Hazel is 15 and very protective of her brother William who is 6. Their mother takes them to an orphanage until she can get enough money so that they can find food and shelter. The orphanage assures her that she'll be able to get her children back. What they don't tell her is her children will be shipped to Canada as soon as there is room available. When the the children arrived in Canada, they were separated and sent to different distribution houses. The house that Hazel is sent to is ruled by a mean woman whose goal is to get the children to families in need without ever following up on their situations that they get placed into. Hazel is sent to a farm where she is treated like a slave, forced to work without proper food and often mistreated. Her only hope is that somehow she will be able to get out of her bad situation, find her brother and return home to find their mother. When she finds out that the girl who was there before her was killed, she begins to wonder if she'll ever get out of there alive.

This book was about a subject that I knew nothing about. This forced childhood emigration took place from 1869 until the late 1930s. The plan was that these children would be adopted into a family filled with love but often these children were treated as slave labor until they aged out at 18. Hazel is a wonderful main character. She loves and protects her mother and brother as best she can and even when she is put into a bad situation, she is brave and resilient. It was apparent that the author did extensive research on this forced emigration and was able to wrote am excellent novel about it. I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own… (plus d'informations)

I've read quite a few books on plantation life. This book was one of the best. The story and it's quite a story moves quickly. So sad in sections that I cried.
Willow lives on a plantation where the slaves are well taken care of and growing up without her mother she feels really close to the slaves on Livingston Plantation. She doesn't agree with owning people and she does what she can to help. Her father refuses to talk about Willows mother so we have a little mystery there and her father also has secret business meetings. He doesn't express his love for Willow so they aren't close but you'll find out the reason for this as the story moves along.
So we have plantation life and the treatment of slaves and the slave catchers. Horrible conditions on some of the plantations and Willow's story and that of some of her friends.
This is book one and I'm looking forward to book 2 in 2019 so I can continue the story of Willow.… (plus d'informations)