A gripping read that I found hard to put down. It had me gripped from the first page . A book that kept my interest the whole way through.

A subtle and cleverly written book. I really didn't guess the ending.

A page-turner from start to finish... Highly recommended.

I found this book very different from the usual book I read. The story of the abandoned children and their feelings are very well written. I would recommend this book

This was a difficult book to sum up after reading as I was left with a vague sense of unfinished business. There was something missing that I can't quite put my finger on but ultimately this was a fairly gripping thriller involving two young children left on a beach in Goa by their parents and the search (by one of them to start with) to find out what happened all those years ago. It's interesting to see how the two children grow up to be completely different too, Jess with a good job and a family and Sparrow (or Ro as we now know him) aimlessly wandering the world looking for clues and skirting the wrong side of the law. Obviously, things all come to a head and it's here where the book lost me slightly. Not that it mattered much as I loved the rest of the book and have already recommended it to several people and donated a copy to my local library.

I absolutely loved this book it's different from all other books I've read and I read alot. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. At times sad and I found myself admiring ro's strength and determination & getting angry at jess for her lack of backbone but sympathising with them both at the same time I'd 100% recommend this book you will not be disappointed. It's very well written and although the characters are adults and written in the present it at times feels like you still see them as a child, feel their dispair it's thought provoking and I couldn't begin to imagine letting my children out of my sight on a beach never mind leaving my children alone there. The image of them alone on that beach is something which will stay with me

Sorry, could not finish this book! Thank you for approving me, but I felt that this book wasn't my cup of tea!

I quite enjoyed this book, although I didnt like the main characters. The book is well written and definitely worth a read.

Interesting well written and original.Not keen on the characters I especially wanted to shake poor Jess she was so downtrodden and her brother was a nutcase but it was well worth a read and I did enjoy it and hope others will too.

It took me a while to decide what star rating I was going to give this book because I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the story.On one hand I did enjoy the mystery elements of the story but I was disappointed with the ending and there were a number of issues that were raised but left unresolved.

The story is voiced by the alternating perspectives of Jess and Ro who recounted what they remembered from their childhoods as the story which was set entirely in the present day unfolded.Jess and Ro where complex characters who had completely different personalities and if I'm honest I didn't like either of them very much.Actually all of the main characters where unlikable apart from poor baby Ruby and Maya.My problem with Jess who was a lawyer and therefore supposed to be a intelligent woman was she was such a door mat.She let everyone walk all over her from the idiot bully at work,her horrible husband,her bitch of a nanny and her psycho brother.And if you suspected that things where going missing from your home wouldn't you change the security code and the locks,I mean come on...it's not rocket science is it.

It's not a fast paced story but it is Intreguing at times.I never felt like giving up and not finishing the book and despite my mixed feelings it was a enjoyable read.

Got a little weary of this one, so it actually fell before the 40 page rule. Shame, as I completely loved Siren. Have passed it on to a bookselling colleague who is enjoying it so far.

In 1992 Jess and her little brother Sparrow are playing on a beach in Goa but when they look round for their parents they are both gone, along with the blanket they were sitting on.

Over the years Jess learns to come to terms with it, she trains as a lawyer, gets married and has a child of her own. Sparrow on the other hand never comes to terms with it - even in his late twenties he is touring the world looking for clues and following up possible sightings, never settling to a job or any person.

When a sighting in Ireland takes him back to the area where they had holidays as a family he is sure that he is on a trail, but after losing his temper things start to go downhill and his obsession starts to take a sinister turn

A good story made interesting by following both Jess and Sparrow - Jess still always tries to protect her little brother and see the good in him whereas Sparrow is spiralling out of control and obviously unstable and with the additional intrigue of whether the mother will ever be found or not

Nail bitting thriller to see if Ro can find his mother.It shows us how the past can be interwoven with the present,guilt of never knowing,unanswered questions,lost dreams and hopes.
Like the way we get to see inside Ro head as the crimes are commited.
The novel leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions a good read for a book club.
A sequel to the book would be ideal,how does Jess get on with her live....
Highly recommended.

A novel about siblings who as children were left on a beach in Goa by their hippy and wayward parents. Police involvement suggested several possible outcomes but no bodies were discovered.
Time has moved on for Jess, who despite all has tried to shut out the horrible events of childhood, marrying, having a child and living in a luxurious house she can barely afford but still managing to juggle all.
However, Sparrow, her younger brother has been unable to move on from the events on the beach, preferring to believe his mother would not desert him by choice. He remains unattached, spending every penny he has scouring the world for any trace of her.
As we begin to understand more of his character though, he is not someone to feel sad for. Life has turned him into a very disturbed young man and this soon becomes apparent when he visits on old acquaintance of his mother in Ireland.
Sparrow watches and waits, believing his sister knows the whereabouts of his mother and he develops his own unhinged conspiracy theories. I was kept reading late into the night to find out what would transpire by way of the conclusion to this seriously disturbed man and those around him and the climax was fast moving and shocking.

A great read and very well written.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Not only was it well-plotted and deep, it was also realistic and believable, which is perhaps why some elements of the narrative make for tough reading. Ro as a character is so multifaceted, so intricate, that the narration when in his POV, manages to evoke not only horror but sympathy simultaneously. Not to mention, the glimpses inside his mind are just down-right fascinating! Unlike a lot of thrillers, this novel doesn't utilise any major twists or surprises which I think Neary uses to her advantage. The Orphans doesn't rely on cheap thrills or shock endings to entice the reader and instead relies on the basics of story-telling - intricate characterisation, beautiful writing and a focus on human experiences and emotions.

I struggled to rate this book. On hearing about it I had high expectations and sadly on reading the book, it didnt live up to the description.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. took me a while to decide what star rating I was going to give this book because I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the story

"If you had Mama for a day, what would you ask her? If you had Mama for a week, where would you want her to take you?"

In 1992, Jess and Sparrow are two naked golden-skinned children on a golden beach in Goa, digging in the sand and looking for shells, living a carefree life with their unconventional hippie parents. But their childhood is about to change forever when both their parents disappear without a trace. One minute they are right there with them, the next they are gone. Whilst their father‘s body is later discovered in a nearby copse of trees, a suspected drug deal gone wrong, their mother has never been found. Now in their late twenties and early thirties, the siblings are still haunted by the mystery of their mother’s disappearance. Is it possible that Sophie could still be alive? Sparrow, who has spent his entire adult life chasing leads that may lead him to his mother, firmly believes so, and is off to Ireland to track down his latest lead, an old friend of Sophie’s from their wandering years. Jess, on the other hand, has moved on with her life by blocking out her childhood trauma, although deep down she knows it has affected her in many subtle ways. Knowing how to be a good mother to her toddler Ruby, for example, who at times seems more attached to their horrible nanny Hana than she is to Jess. Or the way she buries herself in work and turns a blind eye to her husband’s infidelities, for the simple fear of further abandonment and tragedy.

"One disaster doesn’t stop the others from lining up to take its place."

When the police contact Jess to tell her that an old passport of her mother’s has been found in the caravan of a dead woman in Ireland, history comes back to haunt her once again. How did it get there, and why is it in her mother’s maiden name, with a photo Jess does not recognise? And worst of all, where is Sparrow, and what is his involvement? So many questions without answers. Jess, who has successfully suppressed the memories of that fateful day for decades, realises that she can no longer run away from the past.

"It still seems impossible, the comprehensive loss of both parents. Not a scrap of evidence. Just the disbelief, the sudden void, the constant chatter of voices she didn’t understand, the fear that nothing would ever be safe again."

The Orphans is a poignant story of tragedy and grief, and the after effects of one of the most devastating of all losses – the death or disappearance of a parent. Having lost my own mother at a young age, I could fully relate to the gaping hole Sophie’s disappearance has left in the siblings’ lives. Jess, who is constantly searching for her own identity as a woman, wife and mother. And Sparrow, who has forever remained a small boy at heart, putting his life on hold to invest all his energies in trips around the world in the hopes of finding his mother alive and well. Seeing her image in every stranger who remotely bears a resemblance to the Sophie of his childhood, the older woman she may have become.

"Yes, I do, I miss her. I have always missed her. I am only a scrap of the person I should be."

With the discovery of Sophie’s old passport, the old wound is ripped open again, and Jess must face up to the prospect that their mother willingly abandoned them. Is the possibility that Sophie is alive and choosing not to make contact with her family worse than the thought of her being dead? Suddenly all the excuses Jess has made for her mother, all the scenarios she has pictured in her mind, come crashing down in the face of that huge possible betrayal.

"And there, into the space Jess has made for her, comes Sophie Considine, who was Mary really, and who, it seems, will never go away but linger uselessly at the margins – a reminder of the traps life lays for the unwary, and of the numerous ways a mother can fall short."

The Orphans is a sensitively drawn and sometimes heart-breaking story of growing up in the shadow of childhood trauma, with the gaping hole left behind by the death or disappearance of the people who are supposed to love us most of all – our parents. With small flashbacks to that fateful day on the beach, and mounting tension as the siblings must face up to the past once more, the reader is drawn into a story where tragedy is always just a step away. I very much enjoyed Nearys’ writing style, and look forward to reading more from this author in future.

Sparrow was the youngest of the two siblings who were left by their parents on a Goa beach. One moment their parents were there - the kids went looking for shells and things - the next: they were gone, even the coloured blanket they had been sitting on.

Eventually, his sister got back into the routines of life. She married, had a kid and even a nanny. But Sparrow devoted his whole life to finding his mother. He wasn't sacrificing it, he simply didn't know what else to do. It didn't seem he had an choice in this. There was nothing else he could do but travel the world, hoping to locate her whenever someone claimed to have seen a woman resembling her...

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.