Wow loved this book. I feel for those poor girls that had to give their babies up years ago. This book took me back to the likes of the true stories of the Magdalene House

A heart wrenching story of the cruelty the Irish nuns and priests forced upon vulnerable young ladies and the horror of what these pregnant girls had to endure
A tale of Tess who was forced to give up her child to adoption and how it was kept a secret until she died and then her daughter unravels the mystery surrounding her long lost sibling
Wonderfully written and a happy ending, I really enjoyed reading this book

This was one of the best books that I have read in a while. It was well written and one that almost anyone can relate to. I was raised by an Irish mother in America and found many of the stories very relatable. I would highly recommend this book for anyone to read It revealed many secrets that exist in most families

I really enjoy books that even through they are fictional, they are told in such a remarkable way that they truly give you a glimpse into that time. This is definitely one of those. The theme of this book is very sad, but I feel like the story is one that sticks with you. It covers several controversial topics such as in wed mothers, religion, mental health and religion. Overall I felt that the writing was strong and it is absolutely a sort that needs told!!

This book covers a very sad subject- the forcible removal of children from unwed mothers in Ireland.
I enjoyed the book but thought it could give more detail.

Absorbing story of a woman who discovers a shocking letter while going through her late mother's things and embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind its mystery. Along the way, Carmel's closest relationships become sorely tested and new ones are formed. There are twists, an unwelcomed turn of events, and heart-warming revelations. Although fiction, the institution at the heart of the story is not.

The Irish homes established to help unwed mothers and their children from the 1920s up to the 60s, specifically the one at Tuam, which is highlighted in this story, have recently been exposed as cruel and punishing. It's hard to imagine the abuse and neglect the mothers and innocent children faced while in their care. Carmel's story follows one thread, but there must be hundreds more. I found it hard to put the book down at about the half-way mark. After a few surprises that show up toward the end of the book, the conclusion is satisfying and wraps up nicely.

Thank you to Netgalley.com and Poolbeg Press for an ebook Advanced Reader Copy.

The cover of this book features a probably wooden table top with a photograph of a young boy laid on it. The boy’s face has been obscured/erased in the photograph. There are pretty little blue flowers around the photograph that I think are forget-me-nots which would be super relevant to the content of the book. The genres listed for this book are General Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction & Women’s Fiction which all fit well. Of course, the book is based on the true story of the Irish Mother & Baby homes, but the way the author writes it makes it feel personal, as if she knows someone that has gone though, what one of the main character Tess endured.

The main character of Carmel has to empty her mother Tess’s old home as she has died. The one item of furniture she has decided to is the record player, which is described perfectly, in fact my parents had one similar to the one described in the book. Carmel isn’t sure why but she decides at the last minute to have one last look through it. It is whilst doing so that she finds an old letter. The letter is from her father to her mother, the think that strikes Carmel as strange is the address that the letter was sent to, a mother & baby home. This sets Carmel thinking why her mother has never spoken about the baby she had and why her parents just didn’t get married. Using the letter and clues she gleans from it she works out the era her mum was in the mother & baby home, and another woman is mentioned as she is the one smuggling letters in and out of the home for her parents. Carmel is naturally a little stunned and doesn’t read much into a conversation she has with one of her mum’s neighbours, but that conversation makes much more sense to Carmel later, further into her investigation and search for her older sibling. Carmel is eager to find her sibling as she feels so alone now her mother has died and prior to that her beloved brother also died from a heart condition. Luckily the gene connected to this hereditary heart condition is not present in Carmel. Carmel travels to Ireland, staying with her Aunt Julia. Julia reveals that she knew about the baby boy Tess had in the Mother & Baby Home in Tuam and shows Carmel a list of babies that died. In fact, she also shows her newspaper articles about the scandal of babies, bodies being found buried in the home’s grounds. It turns out that Tess had found out that her son was on the list of babies that did not survive despite being told by those at Tuam at the time that the baby was being adopted. Carmel has a very emotional visit to a shrine made in the Tuam Home grounds. Just when Carmel thinks everything is over, she decides to speak to the brave woman who smuggled letters in and out of the home and discovers that perhaps her brother could still be alive despite being on the list of dead. During her search for her brother Carmel does reconnect with other family members and learns more about her mother and father too.

All the while this is going on Carmel is struggling within her own marital relationship, and her best friend is becoming more and more distant from her, she truly feels alone in her search. Maybe that’s why it takes her a while to see what has been happening right under her own nose. I think her search for information about her sibling keeps her going and prevents her from become depressed herself. It’s not long since her mother’s death, before that was her brother’s death. Carmel worries she may end up with mental health issues herself, much like her mother. However, the more she searches, the more obvious it becomes what triggered her mother’s depression.

This book really does cover a lot of quite controversial subjects, from religion, unwed mothers, homosexuality, adultery, depression, and relationships. I found the book thought provoking on a lot of different levels, and it had me questioning how many women still wonder about where the children ripped from their arms in these institutions are? How many of these children have lost opportunities to meet or learn about their biological parents? I have read quite a few books set around the infamous Magdalene Laundries/Mother & Baby Homes, this one came across as really realistic and I felt tugged in and invested in the plot very early on. I felt myself thinking about those women and their babies long after I had finished reading.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing this book were that I had really loved reading a sad, sad story based around true events. So much going on. A look at Ireland, mentions of the mother & baby homes particularly the one in Tuam and the stigma surrounding unwed mothers, babies born out of wedlock, homosexuality, religion, and mental health.....I loved the very end though had kind of guessed at what would happen.

To sum up, I really enjoyed reading this book even though it is a quite sad story. It’s difficult to believe that young women were hidden away and their babies taken from them and adopted. The cruelty they had to put up with from the Catholic Church was horrendous. In fact, I think it’s no wonder Tess had mental health problems in the book with all that she went through. Another horrid thought is that all this was going on only a few decades ago. I think this fictional book is all the more poignant and at times heart-breaking when you know it is based on facts.

A story of Love, loss, and betrayal. When Carmen is clearing out her mothers' house after she passes away she finds a letter, which leads Carmel to believe that her mother had a baby before her and her brother, many years ago but was forced into one of Irelands' notorious mother and baby homes. The book discusses the horrors surrounding these issues such as the mass graves and illegal adoptions and also touches on how powerful the church was in Ireland at that time.
Carmel also is having troubles in her marriage with her husband Joe and the story also focuses on this.
Carmel sets off on a quest to discover what happened to her Mothers child and who knew about it.
I found the story to be well written and easy to read and covered the topics well. I didn't feel like I was totally connected to the characters and for me, it needed a bit more detail and descriptive writing., however overall not a bad book.

My Mother's Children by Annette Sills

Carmel's entire family is gone. They have all died over the years from accidents or natural causes. Her mother and brother have died recently and she is emptying the house out, so it can be sold. Carmel is a second-generation Irish lass who was born in England.

Carmel and her husband Joe are having problems. Her best friend Karen has become unfriendly, all of the sudden. A lot of things suddenly pile up upon Carmel and she feels overwhelmed. She finds out that her mother had been an unwilling resident of a Mother-Baby home in Ireland, a place that a mass grave of 800+ babies and small children were buried in. Carmel begins to figure out the reasons for her mother's mental issues that she had suffered from, all of Carmel's life.

With no strong ties to her home with Joe, she heads to Ireland and begins to investigate what happened to lead her mother to be imprisoned at the home and how it changed her family. She finds out that she had an older brother, who possibly perished at the Home.

Relying on senior citizen's memories of the accounts that involved her parents so long ago, Carmel starts to find out the truth for herself.

This was a pretty good book, it has some historical facts, about the Mother-Baby homes and what happened to the poor women and their babies. The Irish history was interesting. Very sad, but good.

I received a complimentary copy from #netgalley #irishfiction @netgalley of #mymotherschildren and was under no obligation to post a review.

The author gives a story, although fictional, it gives us an idea of what really went on in Ireland when evil people abused and sold children. Talk about child trafficking this is one of the worst, or the bones of 800 children thrown in a septic tank, all true!
This is a story of family, love and loss, and finding new. Discovering after the loss of a parent and a sibling, that she has another brother she never knew about and a search filled with pain, and discovery.
Yes, I think this story should be told and we should remember what happened in Tauom, Ireland. The author gives us an idea of the heartache they caused with her moving family story, especially those that survived.

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Poolbeg Press, and was not required to give a positive review.