I brilliant book about a more hidden period of Canada's (and the Commonwealth a large's) history.
I was drawn to this because it said it was for fans of The Home for Unwanted Girls and as a person who lived in Canada for a number of years but who no longer does. It's also nice to read historical fiction that isn't WWII centric.
As I read this in a day, I'll likely be hand selling this and certainly recommending it to my regular historical fiction customers who I know are sick of WWII centric books.

This story. What a heartbreaking story. I had never heard of this story before. For 79 years children from Canada were being shipped off to other areas of the world and being told they were orphans to go work on farms and for wealthier families. They often went through abuse and neglect. This story pulls at your heart strings and makes you hopeful. I truly enjoyed reading this and the note to the readers at the end from the author is educating and makes you appreciate the story even more. My words truly won’t do this story justice. If you enjoyed Before We Were Yours - this will be right up your alley.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The thing i love about Genevieve Graham's books is the that the backbone of them is based on true events in history. I always leave the book wanting to know more about the history revolving around her story. In this case it tells about the lives of the British Home Children sent to Canada. Their lives were suppose to get better once they were received into the homes of Canadian families and in a lot of cases this wasn't the case. Many were treated as little more then slaves with inadequate food, clothing and shelter.

In this story we are introduced to siblings Jack and Mary, siblings Edward and Cecil and young Winny. Five children living on the streets of London, England surviving any way they can. They are eventually caught and sent to an orphanage and later to homes run by by Dr Thomas Barnardo. The boys are separated from the girls and don't see each other for many years until one fateful day they are all to sail to Canada on the same ship. Unfortunately the lives they are told they will live are not the ones they experience. The boys are sent to the same farm but the girls are sent to different farms. Each live through terrible hardships and abuse that will scar them for life. We learn of their pasts from Winny as she finally reveals her past to her granddaughter and great grandson who had no idea of the struggles she lived through.

I was brought to tears many times while reading this and days later am still contemplating the horrors so many of these children were forced to endure. This is a great book for anyone interested in the history of Canada and Britain for an event that i was not aware of before being introduced to it in this novel.

Another superbly written book by Genevieve Graham!

I don’t even know where to begin! This is one it takes days to digest and I’m still doing that. So much research went into this book. It was written beautifully. The topic, I believe, is not well know. The home children went through terrible, terrible situations in their childhood. These things should never happen to anyone. So grateful for Genevieve Graham for enlightening the world to these happenings. If I could give this millions of stars ratings I would!

The Forgotten Home Child is historical fiction based on well-researched facts regarding a little known part of Canadian history. With the best of intentions, Britain gathered destitute, homeless children and arranged for them to be sent to Canada to be placed with families, with the hope of a better life. Unfortunately, most of these “home children” ended up as indentured labor for Canadian farming families, all too often living a harsher life than the one they left behind.

Narrated by 97-year old Winny to her granddaughter and great-grandson, The Forgotten Home Child follows Winny and her five friends, all “home children,” detailing the story of their lives and their experiences, both in London and subsequently in Canada. We learn of their hopes and dreams versus the harsh reality of their existence. As adults, Winny and her husband, out of shame and anger, never shared their traumatic pasts with their family.

While heart wrenching in its subject matter, The Forgotten Home Child is very engrossing and kept my interest throughout. The author includes “A Note to Readers” at the end, describing the extensive research she undertook in preparation for writing this novel. She met and interviewed descendants of British Home Children to learn about the hardships and shame experienced by their ancestors.

First of all I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book. From the beginning till the end I was captured by this extraordinary story about the Home Children I'd never heard before. Wonderful characters in a historial fiction book that kept me on reading for hours. I highly recommend this book to all my friends and family members. And to you, reading the reviews before asking for a copy. I'd give 6 stars if possible.

This book really tugged at my heartstrings. I am a sucker for a tale of hardship based on history, and this one is particularly well written. It's hard to imagine that this kind of thing could have ever happened to children, and I appreciate the amount of historical detail the author put into this work. Many thanks to the publisher for the chance to read this.

This fantastic read deserves more than 5 stars. This Historical Fiction book is based on the British Home Children who were children sent from England to Canda to clear out the orphanages and sold as indentured servants. In 1936, 15-year-old Winnie runs away from her mother's abusive boyfriend who lives with them and often beats all of them. She meets up with Mary and her brother Jack, brothers Edward and Cecil and together they live on the street and steal to survive. When they are caught, Winnie and Mary are put in Dr. Bernard's Barkingside Home for Girls and the boys are put in the home for boys. After 2 years, they all ship out to Canada at the same time supposedly to work for families and have a better life, but that is not what happens. The story then goes to present day when Winnie is a 97-year-old widow living with her granddaughter, Chrissie and her great-grandson, Jamie. One day, they ask her about the trunk from her childhood that she has brought with her and about her past which she has kept a secret for all these years. This is such a heartbreaking and moving read and I highly recommend that you keep some tissues nearby. The author, Genevieve Graham, did a very thorough job researching the history of the British Home Children. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of this very moving story. I highly recommend this book.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46404177-the-forgotten-home-child" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Forgotten Home Child" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581258039l/46404177._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46404177-the-forgotten-home-child">The Forgotten Home Child</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4505583.Genevieve_Graham">Genevieve Graham</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3202330022">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for letting me read an advance copy of this book. I would highly recommend it as a wartime story with a different slant. It is an historical fiction which the author did her research on. I did not realize that children in GB had such a struggle during & following the war. They were farmed out to Canada on work projects. I am Canadian and am horrified at our treatment of them While heartwrenching at times it is an amazing story of the resilience of these children. How they overcame the challenges and obstacles was uplifting to read.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/20664902-barb-muylaert">View all my reviews</a>

I didn’t like the beginning of this book, and I almost quit it. “Let’s sit down after dinner each night and get great grandma to tell us her life story.” Zzzzz. But it got better, and I rounded 3.5 stars to 4.

Usually when I read historical fiction, I am motivated to read up on that part of history, but this book didn’t do that for me. However it held my interest and was a quick read. Thanks so much to net galley for this ARC!

Genevieve Graham is a wonderful author that pulls you in from the beginning and doesn't let you go. I've had the great privilege of hearing her speak on several occasions and her passion for her characters and story breathe extra life into her words. Not to brag (maybe a little), she lives in my province and I am absolutely proud to recommend any of her titles to our customers. This book will not disappoint.

I have been a fan of Genevieve Graham's books for a few years now so of course when I received The Forgotten Home Child ARC I was so excited and of course I just had to read it right away even though the book didn't come out for a few months.

I just absolutely loved this heart-wrenching book. It is so well written and so well researched. I didn't even know about the forgotten home children until I heard of this book.

I just couldn't put this one down at all that I actually ended up staying up one night just so that I could keep reading this book.

I do highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this story and the part of history I wasnt aware of. Early 20th century, particularly European and British history is a favorite time period. I was aware that children were sent out of the cities and that orphans were "adopted" as helpers on farms but I didnt know they were sent to Canada.
I loved how the story unravelled and how the children formed their own family. The characters were well written and developed.
I will definitely read more by this author

Beautiful story of life and death and not wanting the past to die with you. I kept tearing up within this book thru this story. Life and secrets that come to light.

This book starts out with our main character (Winny) telling her now fully grown granddaughter and her great grandson the story of their family and how she ended up in Britain. She starts the story with great unease because telling the whole thing means breaking a promise that she never thought she would have to break. The story then jumps into the story that she is telling. .While I usually don't like books where the time periods change often this one did so very easily and it was very easy to determine what time the reader was in all while getting a better understanding of the backstory that our character was trying to tell. This book was told with such compassion and warmth however some of the situations that Winny was placed in as a child were horrendous and I would never wish upon anyone. This story had everything, humor, sadness, betrayal, pain, and last but not least a whole lot of love. I'm very glad that I got the chance to read this story as I feel that it changed my life a little bit after reading it.

This is a wonderful book. I loved the little known historical content, delivered in a superbly woven story of hardship, hope and friendship. The characters are beautifully developed. I have read a few of Genevieve Graham's book and this is one of my favorites. Once again she has allowed me to discover some of Canada's history, worth knowing, and that must be remembered.

If you loved Before We Were Yours, you will absolutely fall for this book! I was engrossed from the very beginning and couldn’t help getting emotionally attached to all the characters. This is a heart breaking history of London, Canada and homeless children that definitely needed some much needed attention. I had never heard of the Home Children before and now I know I will never forget them. What an extraordinary historical fiction book! Graham is an incredible storyteller! A solid 5 stars for me! I highly recommend this book.

Wow! This is one of those books that you sit down and take a deep breath it has so enwrapped your soul. I cried which is a hard thing to make me do. Children who were shipped from England to other countries from 1869- 1948 this one focuses on children sent to Canada. England had an overpouring of orphans at that time and thought this would give them a family and a good life. Sometimes this just wasn't the case. This book follows the lives of a few of these "Home Children". Such a sad, horrible story written with such beauty.

The Forgotten Home Child is a beautiful, abeit sometimes painfully sad, story that takes place partly in 1936 and 2018. It is a story of abandoned children, either just given up or actually orphaned, and the terrible hardships they endure. In the midst of these hardships there are lifelong friendships made and during those years these friendships are their families and this goes along the way, 1936 to 2018. It is also a story of love, determination, survival and the beauty of love. My heart just burst reading this, I loved the story and I'm sure you will too. Thank you #NetGalley #Simon&Schuster #TheForgottenHomeChild

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advance copy of this book.

Based on the true story about the British Home Children, The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham tells of how the UK shipped children to Canada from homes that had rescued the children that were either destitute, from families that were dysfunctional, or suffered a tragedy such that they fell on hard times forcing them to surrender the children to these homes. Many still had families, and when some recovered and went to get their children back, they were heartbroken to find they’d been sent away.

Thrust onto a new continent, these children were placed into situations that were not always good and they suffered as many viewed them as inferior and filthy street rats from London. Alone and separated from anyone they knew, they withdrew into themselves and buried the stories of their past in dealing with the trauma.

While this migration scheme was well-intentioned, the results were devastating to these child victims. Being poor and in need stigmatized them in many different ways bringing shame to their plight as we learn as Winny, a 97-year old, tells here story painful bit by bit to her granddaughter and great-grandson.

This is beautifully written and tells an important story about the dark history here. Don’t discount it as being like so many others similar in it subject matter. The Forgotten Home Children is distinctly different. Historical fiction fans will find lots to like in this book.