I absolutely loved this book! It's set in England during WWII and is one of the best homefront stories I've read. My favorite character was Muriel Shawbrook, a nurse and the aunt of a baby missing after a night of bombing; she came across as very appealing and the ups and downs of her romantic relationship really had me rooting for her. The other two female characters--Vera, the mother of the missing baby, and Maggie, the woman who keeps the baby even when she realizes his family is looking for him, are somewhat less sympathetic, but given what they each had endured, their flaws are understandable and they are not unlikable. The men in the book are, for the most part, also well drawn and compelling. I had the great pleasure of listening to the audiobook and the narrator, Ella Lynch, is absolutely enchanting, delivering both the lines of the young women and of the men, including one with a Scottish accent, with great charm and authenticity. I highly recommend this wonderful book and thank Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio e-ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the early listen.
Great narration! Held me captive until the very end. There were a few characters that were very unlikeable but they were essential to the story. Can't really say it was a mystery since the reader knows from the beginning who stole the baby but trying to figure out how the parents would be reunited with their child made for an interesting read!. Just wish the author would have said what happened to Maggie after the baby was returned to the parent(s).
Will definitely recommend.

this book had me hooked from the first chapter. I don't usually listen to audiobooks but couldn't stop listening. great true story, would highly recommend.

At the title and summary suggest, this is the story of a baby stolen during WWII in Plymouth, England. The author does not waste any time getting to the part where the baby is stolen (it happens in Chapter 1) - which I enjoyed because the anticipation would have been terrible! There are lots of other relationships and characters that are explored throughout the book. The author does a great job setting the various scenes for this book and describing the characters. The plot and all the other small stories that branch off from the stolen baby were interesting and realistic. The book kept my attention and I looked forward to turning on the audiobook. The narrators were perfect for this book.

Thank you for NetGalley for the advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a good book. From something so sad and tragic comes a great ending. The descriptions were so great i could picture everything that was going on. I could see the buildings and the destruction that was being described. The narrator was wonderful

I devoured this book! It’s a real page-turner with great pacing, well-drawn characters, and terrific writing. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, it’s also based on a true story! The narration was outstanding. 5 stars.

First, I did enjoy this book. The storytelling by Diney Costeloe is very good. I just thought it needed more. Subplots, maybe?

Maybe I didn't connect to this the way I wanted to because I'm not a parent. I wanted to feel more for the women, Vera and Maggie, but both had 'guilt' that never receded in to the background for me. I loved the setting and location. I just needed more exploration of the womens' psyche. My only sympathies were with poor, innocent Freddie.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was unthinkable to me because I couldn’t imagine stealing a baby? It was war time and I really thought that this child would fall through the cracks. The story was sorta sad and it was making me crazy how long it took to get to the truth. I liked the story but wanted a little more details and wanted to like the main characters more.
I chose to listen to this book on audio and really liked the narrator Ella Lynch.
This was 11 hours and 22 minutes.
Thanks Dreamscape Media via Netgalley.

Wow, what a fantastic audiobook. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to and review "The Stolen Baby." A mother's quest to finding her son during WWII. Once I finished the novel I went back to read the reviews of others. I was surprised to find out it was based on a true story.

Reviewed the audiobook version, thank you NetGalley!

Once again NetGalley introduces me to an author with many books under their belt. I'm anxious to read other books by Diney Costeloe. I was really enjoying the audiobook; around 75% through the book I became aware that this book was based on actual events.

This book has a lot going on. Diney Costeloe does an amazing job of keeping the story moving in a way where you are able to absorb an amazing amount of details and nuances without getting the plot and characters confused.

Ella Lynch does a fabulous job narrating The Stolen Baby.

I really enjoyed this audiobook!

Thank you NetGalley, Diney Costeloe the author, Ella Lynch the narrator and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review the advance "listen" copy of The Stolen Baby in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 12 Oct 2021.

The author puts us in England, and in the beginning Plymouth, and the year is 1941, now the bombs are dropping from the sky, and while taking and scrambling for shelter, some how a baby is forgotten. Will this family ever recover from this strike.
You may want the tissues handy, this one is a heart tugger, and we are with the Shawbrook family, their love for one another, their losses, and their frantic searching for the missing
Right up to the end we wonder if the family will ever be somewhat whole again. There is a bit of sweet romance, and scares of loosing more loved ones, all the while searching for Freddie.
I received this book through Net Galley and Dreamscape Media, and was not required to give a positive review.

A pleasant story with twists and turns. Mysteries, suspense, grief, drama, family, death, abduction all rolled into one magnificent story. I’ve ready many books set during this time period and this one actually takes the cake.

Personable sorry about family, love and loss during war. We travel with a family as they suffer numerous, immeasurable losses and how they cope, learn that life is too short to take things for granted and move forward to celebrate the treasures they have remaining. The family ties that bind are more strongly connected as they work through their pain and try to find the youngest member of the family who has gone missing following a bomb raid on the town. This audio book has great narration. I loved the accent and felt it added an additional layer to the story which I really enjoyed.

Special thanks to #netgalley & #DreamscapeMedia for the opportunity to enjoy this advanced copy in exchange for an honest, personal review.

You are a mother. What is the very worst thing that can happen to you? Your baby goes missing..

I didn’t know it when I read this book, but it is based on a gripping and moving true story, The Stolen Baby is Diney Costeloe’s new Second World War novel.

The story opens in Plymouth. The year is 1941. Relentless sirens are blaring a cacophony of confusing noise all around. The Shawbrook family takes refuge in an over-packed shelter. Bombs have already begun to fall through the night sky when they realize their infant son, Freddie, has been forgotten in the rush! The little guy is left still sleeping in his crib or cot as the British say. When she is finally allowed, a frantic, Vera, his young mother, races to find him and bring him to safety, but he is gone from their residence.

The next morning, air raid warden David Shawbrook returns from his watch to find the shelter pulverised, and his family seemingly all dead. He enters his home to find dirty footprints, an indication that looters have rifled through the house. What he doesn’t realize is that he has not been the first one to enter the destroyed home. A police officer heard the baby’s cry and “rescued” him.

Meanwhile, we meet Maggie who is waiting alone at home for her husband. Yes this is the rescuing police officer. Since the death of her infant son who died at just hours old, she passes her days at home in a depressed state. But this morning proves to be very different. This morning her husband brought home a child, a baby! He found the baby abandoned in the aftermath of the terrible raid. Here is Roger, the child she is sure is the one she held in her arms so many months before. This fact goes to show just how powerful depression and loss can hold on one's life. Sadly her husband is killed before he has the chance to reveal the origin of the rescued child.

I experienced this intricate story of lies and deception to be frustrating as Maggie cares for another mother’s baby passing little Freddie off as her Roger. She accomplishes this quite successfully and cleverly for longer than she should have been allowed to in my opinion. She even has his birth certificate to prove he was actually born to her. Remember it’s 1941 and there are no sophisticated DNA tests and so why should the police dispute a birth certificate. As time moves slowly on with Maggie caring for “Roger” and a desperate mother who is sure of Maggie’s deception, it seems the authorities are just not doing enough. As I said Maggie is quite clever in her deceit and the story she concocts. But as in all lies one misses little the things that finally break the deception.

Your heart will ache for both Maggie AND and Vera as well as Vera’s family as the truth is sought.

This is a book you won’t want to put down and the audio version is spot on!

Kudos to Diney Costeloe for superb writing and Ellen Lynch as she brought this story to life which tugged mightedly on this mother’s heart strings.

Thank you Netgally for the privilege of listening to this ARC

A mother gives birth to her baby, holds him and then is told to rest while the doctor looks him over. She is later told the baby didn’t make it.

A child is left home during an air raid. His mother leaves the bomb shelter to go in search of him and the shelter is then utterly destroyed.

So begins this historical fiction book…

I did enjoy the very early parts of this story but then way too much of the book felt like “filler” and the book overall should have been much shorter and/more interesting. I had a difficult time suspending my disbelief at times as well and all of the coincidences were just way too convenient and not believable at all.

I also had thought I would enjoy the  narrator because I liked her regular reading voice (as I read the audiobook version) but the more I got into the book, I  did find many of the voices (especially Vera’s) too “over-the-top” and overly dramatic.

Overall, I really cannot recommend this book as there was just not a gripping enough story line.

My thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for this copy of the audiobook of The Stolen Baby.

During an air raid, Baby Freddie, is left in his crib during confusion by his family. Found by a police officer, Freddie is taken home for the man’s wife to care for him. While he intends to take Freddie to a shelter the following day, tragedy changes those plans.

Maggie is happy to have Roger back in her arms. As the days progress, she is more certain that Roger is the baby she delivered a few months ago. Meanwhile, Freddie’s family continues to search for him.

This is a cat and mouse story set during WWII. It shows how families can get separated and the difficulty in finding those treasured people. It also emphasizes the kindness that was afforded others during this difficult time.

I enjoyed the story. I could relate to each of the characters. Each had their flaws, but I could feel the humanity still there. The only one that irritated me was Vera. I know she was young, but she acted like a spoiled six-year-old child.

The narrator was perfect for this story. She immerses the reader in the story.

Highly recommended!


I received an ARC from Dreamscape Media through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

This book was so emotional!!! I cannot IMAGINE!!!

A baby boy is found in a bombed safehouse and taken home to his wife by a police officer.

As Muriel is working in the hospital, she happens upon a bed and finds her missing sister Vera. Once Vera is able to remember who she is and what happened, she realizes her son must be dead. But a police report is put in to attempt to find baby Roger.

Upon noticing strange instances, Vera becomes obsessed with finding her son and believes he was kidnapped by Maggie, their landlady. She finds her son's panda bear in the home and begins her hunt.

This is a mother's worst nightmare, to be under the duress of war AND to have a missing infant son?! This was such an emotional read! If you enjoy Historical Fiction, this is a must-read!

I received this an audio ARC through Netgalley. The Stolen Baby is a heart wrenching story about a baby that gets left at home during an air raid strike during WWII in England. Ella Lynch does an excellent job as the narrator for this story and made me feel like I was there as she would be talking. In the confusion of an air raid strike, baby Freddy gets left at home. A kind officer finds him the next day and brings him back to his house as the shelters would be packed with people. His wife who had lost a baby 9 months before, believes this is her second chance to be a mum and dreads when she'll have to give the baby back to it's rightful family......or will she try to find a way to keep him as her own?

Where's Freddie?

A story written during WWII, A fatal air raid, a daring rescue, and a baby named Freddie.

The air raid sirens sound and Nancy Shawbrook gathers her family and head for the nearest air raid shelter. While she is in the shelter with her children her daughter Vera comes in at the last minute from the bar where she works. She was having a drink with the bar keep when the sirens sounded. Her mother asks her where is Freddie? Vera says with you and her mother says no you are responsible for Freddie. Vera leaves the shelter to find Freddie who has been left at home.

David Shawbrook is a warden and when he is off shift the next morning after the air raid he finds that his whole family has been killed in the shelter that was directly hit by a bomb during the night. His daughter Meh works at a hospital in another town. He contacts her to let her know what happened. Then Meh finds Vera in the hospital, she was knocked unconscious during the raid and never made it home.

David goes to the home that is now practically falling down. He see's footprints in the dust and thinks it is from looters. Then the Shawbrook family hear from a neighbor boy that a policeman rescued a baby from the home. The policeman is now gone as he died in an air raid the next night.

Now they search for Freddie, where could he have gone, will they ever find him again?

This is a touching story of the grief of a mother losing a child. I have to say I wasn't sympathetic to Vera at all. She was not a character I particularly liked at all, but I did like her sister Mew.

It is a great story of a family banding together to find Vera's child and keep the remaining part of their family together. It is also Mew's story of finding her own life and letting Vera finally fend for herself.

I enjoyed the story as I have all of Diney Costeloe's books. I would recommend this book. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was very good.

Thanks to Diney Costeloe, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for allowing me a complimentary copy of the audio-book for my honest review.

Diney Costeloe has a magical way of transporting me back to different places in time. I was first drawn to her books because many are written from a period in time that I’m drawn to. Her covers are also stunning and I am one of those that does judge a book by its cover… initially at least, after all, first impressions do matter; a beautiful cover draws my attention and piques my interest and I’ve several works from this author proudly displayed on my bookshelf. After reading several works from this author, I’ve grown to love her beautiful prose and fine storytelling. The Stolen Baby is a heart wrenching tale that takes place during WWIl, primarily in Plymouth, England. While the story is deemed historical fiction, it’s based on real events and that makes it even more special to me. The Narration by Ella Lynch was fabulous and really brought this one to life. I look forward to adding a copy of this one to to my collection! Readers that enjoy the works of Pam Jenoff, Natasha Leister, Marion Kummerow and Kate Hewitt will enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGally, Dream Scape Media (@DreamScapeMedia) and of course the author, Diney Costeloe (@DineyCosteloe) for the opportunity to listen to this advanced audio copy that was wonderfully narrated by @EllaLynch in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.