I have so many emotions after reading this book. First, to be fair to the author, the book is well written and keeps you turning pages. And I have enjoyed other Wiseman books. However, this book is heartbreaking, and I mean so gut wrenching that I literally feel sick. I did finish it, hoping that things would turn around, but it was just so heavy and disturbing that I couldn't enjoy it.

I've said before that I'm fascinated by what it is that prompts an author to write a story and I appreciate that Wiseman in an interview at the end of the novel tells us how idea for the story came about. " ...the idea started with the image of an old camera hidden inside a mansion. Then I imagined a little girl locked in the attic, which probably stemmed from my love of Flowers in the Attic and my fascination with stories about people hiding their "less than perfect" children in a back bedroom." This is hard to read from the beginning seeing ten year old Lilly's treatment by her horrible mother as her father stood by and let it happen. It isn't until Lilly is sold to the circus and pent up in cage that we learn why her mother thinks she is a monster. From a side show attraction in a circus in the 1930's, Lilly becomes a fake medium and ultimately an elephant rider, finds love and tragedy.
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In an alternating narrative, twenty years later, we're introduced to Julia who also suffered at the hands of her horrible mother, a religious zealot and weak father who may love his daughters but does nothing to help them as he hides behind his liquor bottle. She runs away, but returns to her childhood home and horse farm after her parents are dead. The question becomes how will Julia and Lilly's stories cross? At some point the reader knows what Julia doesn't and her search to understand the things she finds in the attic became a little tedious.

Some tough issues are covered - child abuse, animal abuse and this makes for a tough read, but if you've read any of Wiseman's books, you know she never shies away from some awful things that happened in history. The fact that an incident involving an elephant is based on a true story illustrates Wiseman's look to historical fact. There are side shows, freak shows depicting the awful treatment of deformed or disabled, either fake or real. The story moves from sad to sadder to omg - how much more? I don't know a lot about the circus life and what it may have been like, but I just felt that especially towards the end when we learn about Lilly's fate that it was just a little too melodramatic so it's 3.5 stars but not quite 4 for me . I have read all of Wiseman's novels so it is hard for me not to compare them. My favorite is What She Left Behind and I will continue to read what Wiseman writes hoping that I will be as captivated as I was with that one . While I gave this 3 stars (3.5 if I could) I did like it , just not as much as a couple of her other books. If you are considering this, you should definitely read all of the 4 and 5 star reviews as it appears I'm an outlier here.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Kensington Publishing through NetGalley.

What an emotional read. I was all over the place - Lilly never seemed to possess a firm grip on happiness for very long. Her resilience took my breath away. A young girl deprived of love and tenderness along with so much more, yet demonstrating the capacity to love while overcoming the unthinkable. Certainly a memorable protagonist.

Julia was equally as impressive. The pain she experienced through her childhood as well as unearthing unimaginable secrets. I enjoyed the way their stories merged together although one story ended tragically the other on a more happily ever after note which was both welcomed and a relief. Piecing together their relationship was all consuming.

Circus life and both protagonists connecting with animals was unique and added freshness to a very dramatic narrative, once you start reading you won't be able to put it down. Pepper's story pulled at my heartstrings.

Storytelling at its finest. This one will stick with me for quite a long time. Resilience, strength, love, and happiness well executed by Wiseman.

The life She was Given is a fabulous read. Ellen has done an incredible job of depicting circus life in the 1930's. Please have the tissue readily available when you read this story. It will pull at your heartstrings. Ellen is able to into weave the lives of two girls who are twenty years apart. Both have lived traumatic lives and yet there is happiness and hope mixed in the despair. This is truly an amazing read and very different from any thing I have ever read.

A cross between Water for Elephants and a gothic suspense, this was a quick read that will draw you in. Good vacation book

While I enjoyed this book and have recommended it to others, I had a difficult time reading the sections involving animal cruelty. Found myself having to skip over them. I'm not an overly sensitive person but felt the author was a little over the top. I don't feel such detail added to the title.

It was 1931 and Lilly Blackwood had spent her entire short life in the attic bedroom of her parent’s house. Never allowed outside or even downstairs in case “someone saw her” - she was told by her Momma that she was an abomination. But things changed the night her Momma took her across the paddock of their land to the lights and tents of a circus which had arrived only a couple of days previously. The sights and sounds, even the smells, were frightening to Lilly – the sky big and vast. She had no idea “outside” would be like that. And when her Momma left her with the horrible man after taking money from him – and walked away, ten-year-old Lilly was devastated…

Over twenty years later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood was living rough – her waitress job only just paid the rent but she had nothing left over for food. Julia had run away from home three years previously, after finally having enough of her cruel and vindictive mother. When she was notified that she had inherited her parent’s estate, she was unsure if she wanted to return. But knowing her mother would no longer be at the house made the decision easier…

Julia’s return to her childhood home brought back distressing memories for her – but when she found evidence of a mystery surrounding a circus and a young girl, Julia’s interest was piqued. What did the deep, dark secrets hide that she felt were right there? Who was this beautiful young woman? And what was hidden in the depths of the old house and its locked rooms?

The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman is an amazing, emotional, heart rending story of two young women and the traumatic and hopeless lives they both lived. It’s a story of evil and hope – of fleeting happiness and dark despair. And it’s a story unlike any I’ve ever read before and I thoroughly enjoyed it! My first by this author, and it won’t be my last. A most highly recommended tale. (The cover is perfect - eye catching and just right!)

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the free digital copy of this book. I am always excited when I find a 5-star book! I have never read any of Ellen Marie Wiseman's books, but I think I will definitely have to read another.

The book begins with Lilly, who is only allowed to live in the small space of her attic bedroom. Her mother tells her that she is so ugly that she can't go outside or people will be scared of her.

There is also the story of Julia, who the reader meets as a run away working at a diner. Julia frequently speaks of her family. There are many similarities between Lilly and Julia's childhood.

The book switches between both ladies and their lives. I won't say how their lives are connected so as not to give away spoilers.

I was horrified by the treatment of Lilly and her story as it unfolded. Obviously there is a time in her life that involved being in the circus. I thoroughly enjoyed the description of the elephants - I want to ride an elephant now!!

This was an amazing story!

Thank you Kensington Books for providing me with a digital copy of The Life She was Given by Kellen Marie Wiseman via NetGalley.

The Life She Was Given is the story of Lilly and Julia Blackwood, two young women who led different, but similarly painful and isolated lives at Backwood Manor trying to live their lives better than they were given. Lilly is hidden away from the world in a secret attic bedroom, never even being permitted to go outside, until her mother sells her to a circus side show. More than two decades later, Julia returns to Blackwood Manor-- a home she ran away from, full of rules and regulations, devoid of love and affection-- as the inherited owner of Blackwood Manor and Blackwood Farms hoping to start a new life. When Julia discovers mention of a sister she never knew she had hidden among her father's things she won't rest until she knows all the secrets of Blackwood Manor.

I enjoyed this book, it has a kind of Gothic flavor complete with a large old house full of secrets, locked doors, and hidden rooms. I felt engaged as the mystery built and unfolded from both Lilly and Julia's perspectives. I also enjoyed being immersed in the 1930s circus culture for much of Lilly's story. While the story ends on a positive note, it still left me feeling rather sad, but not necessarily in a bad way.

So.... if you liked The Night Circus, you may like this one. I don't say that simply because of the circus connection but also the development of the characters and their situations. There's not really any magical content here, like in The Night Circus but you've got the big top and couple of star-crossed lovers.

I compare it to Night, honestly, in large part because I finished reading this one with the same sense of disappointment that I had when finishing Night. In both, I felt the characters were fairly one-dimensional and that simply setting the plot in a circus environment didn't give it the interest of depth for which the author may have been striving.

Unfortunately, it all just fell quite flat and unemotional for me.

Kensington Books provided an advanced copy for review. The Life She Was Given was released on July 25th.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Written in dual timelines, Lilly Blackwood (1930) age 10, is sold to the circus by her mother who says she is damaged and an abomination. Current day, Julia Blackwood inherits her family estates after her parents die. Along with the estate is a horse farm and many deep, dark secrets that threaten to consume Julia.

Wow, good book! I've read a couple of the author's books and have greatly enjoyed them. Well written, interesting characters, and simply said, just a plain good story.

4☆

I loved this book! Talk about feeling a wide range of emotions! It was touching, joyful, heartbreaking and at times horrifying. I swear I read one scene with one eye closed! I felt the character Lilly jump from the page, I swore she was real. Reading about the circus was mesmerizing. And my big takeaway from this story: Wow people can be cruel! It's a page turner with all the feels.

I struggled with this one, but in fairness I didn't like Water for Elephants either. 40% into this book I found it too depressing to continue. It could be my mood, it could be the subject. I really struggle with books surrounding the mistreatment of animals. Oh, and the mistreatment of children. Add to that the fact that I couldn't get into either female character and I had to put this one down.

Would recommend if you liked Water for Elephants.

have read all of Ellen Marie Wiseman’s novels so when I heard her newest book, The Life She Was Given, was being published I was excited and anxious to get my hands on a copy. I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this book from Netgalley and this is my honest review.
Lilly is a ten year old girl whose mother has kept her prisoner in their attic because she was born “different”. When she is ten years old her horrible mother finally takes her out, only to sell her to the circus. Her life in the circus was difficult but she was finally surrounded by some people who cared about her. There is another character in this book and her name is Julia and she also grew up in the same house, decades after Lilly. She was not a prisoner in the attic but she was unfortunately raised by the same loveless woman who sold Lily to the circus. There are secrets and a mystery that unfold as you read this interesting historical fiction noveI. I was swept up in the story from the beginning and loved every minute of reading. I am giving this book a 5 star rating.

The circus always holds a unique allure for me. I'm not sure if it is the bright colored tent, the beautiful artistry of the trapeze or highwire acts or the daring of the lion tamer, but I'm always drawn in by a novel featuring the timeless circus scene.

In The Life She Was Given, we meet Lilly Blackwood, who must live her life within the confines of her attic room. Her mother tells her that this is for her own safety since her appearance would scare anyone she met. In 1931, Lilly is sold to a traveling circus and suffers a different type of cruelty at the hands of her new owner. Lilly changes and evolves during her years with the circus, while the reader has a front row seat to all the spectacle.

We also meet Julia who has just inherited Blackwood Manor from her mother. Unfortunately, Julia's childhood memories are not happy ones, but full of rules, pain and unhappiness. As she returns to Blackwood Manor, she uncovers family secrets and tries to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding her family.

This was a five star read for me. I was completely immersed in the book and found I was thinking about the characters long after the book was over.

I received this book courtesy of Kensington Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars for making me ugly cry!!
I can not help but cry for Lilly...what a sad, sad life she was given...Did anyone else want to punch her mother in the throat!! Well the dad too!!

This was a gripping page turner for sure! It will haunt you for days or even weeks to come.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks so much for granting my wish to read this.

Excellent read. I love the dual timeline of this book. I thought Lilly and Julia were portrayed well and I enjoyed both women tremendously throughout the story. I was very engaged throughout the entire book and was sad when it came to an end. The trials these women had to go through were almost unbelievable at times, but very accurate to 'real life. I would love to read more by this author!

You can debate the ending with yourself or others but you can't deny that this is a great novel. Wiseman has created two wonderful characters in Lily and Julie; the alternating chapters tell the story. She also clearly spent a lot of time researching circus life in the 30s to 50s- the images are so vivid. The animals become characters in their own right. This is a thought provoking tale about how one can take a bad event and turn it into a good life. Lots of emotion, lots of love- thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This could be characterized loosely as women's fiction or historical fiction but at root it's just an excellent read.

I would like to thank Kensington Books for granting my wish and allowing me to read an electronic ARC of this book, via Netgalley, in exchange for an open and honest review.

Wow! What a book! I mean, seriously addictive and so full of emotions! As some people know, I’m not usually a fan of Literary Fiction but I sometimes get in the mood to give it another go and hope the book I read is worth it. ‘The Life She Was Given’ was definitely worth it! I want to go on about how certain areas of the book made me feel, but I am concerned mentioning them would be one great big spoiler…

So I will just say some of the full circle moments were heart aching and so well written I needed a tissue! I am not a crier! Well, except for those animal ads, you know the ones. ;-)

But, yes, this was a brilliantly well-written tale told in two halves about the one family. Parts of it set in the 1930’s and parts of it set in the 1950’s and - although I’m not an expert - I do feel some good, solid research went into writing in both eras and in both locations - one a manor house/ horse farm, and the other a travelling circus.

The stories are woven so well together, linking in subtle ways that the story runs seamlessly. Sometimes when you get two different stories running in the same book they are very disjointed and hodge podge. Not in ‘The Life She Was Given’. No - seamless writing!

What can I say about ‘The Life She Was Given’ without giving anything away? Well, it is a very emotional journey through both eras, the characters are well written and I found myself connecting with them to enjoy the ride (even through the sad bits) and boy was it addictive! My kids were told to fend for themselves on Saturday (they are 12, 10 and 8 so can do the basics) as I simply HAD to keep reading!

The only issues I found with this book - and it has absolutely nothing to do with the author, which is why I didn’t mark it down in my score - is that the eBook formatting was blocky and jumbled in places. New paragraphs starting mid-sentence, the title and page number of the book appearing mid page… EBook formatting can be a pain at times and one little glitch and cause a whole series of issues… But as it was an ARC I read I merely assumed that Kensington Books would have it all sorted and that the final version will be perfect.

Would I recommend this book to others?

Yes I would. Lovers of historical fiction and literary fiction, even women’s fiction, are going to enjoy ‘The Life She Was Given’. I was raving over it so much my 12 year old wants to have a read… but I feel - despite her above average levels of maturity and intelligence - that I wouldn’t recommend it to her. Yes teen girls like to adventure into this genre but their raw, developing emotions might get a little too hurt in reading this. It’s not a horror book or a completely sad tale… but there are moments where you may want to just put the book down for a moment and hug the cat or child or something.

Would I buy this book for myself?

Tough call. I mean, I did love it and am still walking off the book hangover it’s given me. But my underlying aversion to literary fiction does make me baulk at going out and buying my own copy. What a miser I am being! It is an amazingly heart felt and emotional roller coaster of a book - wow I can’t believe I was just that corny - but, yeah, some books touch you in such a way they are better as library books than ones you personally own.

As in, they are kept offsite and away from you, but you have access to them when you want to feel the way they make you feel… does that make sense? No, no I don’t think it does! But it’s how I feel. Love the book, not too sure I would want to possess it as it needs to be free. LOL! Ignore me, it’s Monday and my Crio Brü mug is in the wash.

In summary: A brilliant, well-written literary fiction that is going to tug at the heart strings while keeping you wanting more. Highly recommend.