Wow, this truly was a page-turner! While I absolutely loved the story and the characters, my heart ached for all of the unwed mothers sent to the Magdalen Laundry and treated like the scum of the earth by the nuns who ran it. It still blows my mind that the Catholic Church in Ireland would shun and punish pregnant women like that, but I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised.

Kate was a young woman who found herself caught up in a whirlwind romance with an American airman. Their time was cut short, though, as Tony was sent back to the frontlines. Soon after, Kate found out she was pregnant and her family (mainly her mother) sent her away to a home for unwed mothers. The women there were not only overworked and mentally abused, but also forced to give up their children (which the nuns profited from).

An American couple, desperate for a child of their own, had heard of the unwed mothers’ home in Ireland where children could be adopted. Josh made the long trek overseas and gave a sizable “donation” to the church, which resulted in them bringing home Eva, Kate’s daughter. From there, Josh and Carol enveloped Eva into their living family, but Kate was left wondering what became of Eva and if she would ever see her again.

This was such a beautifully written story, though heart-wrenching at times. It hurt to see the way that not only the Catholic Church treated the unwed mothers, but their families too. Kate’s mother, for example, was a real piece of work, but it seemed like the priest at the church she attended was the real problem. He had ingrained in his parishioners how shameful it was to become pregnant out of wedlock, and they all bought into it. I can definitely see how this story relates to the current state of affairs with Covid and certain priests deterring their followers from getting vaccinated. The similarities are honestly frightening.

Overall, I thought this was a fantastic book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves an emotionally-driven historical fiction!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4408174011

This was an emotional story of 2 women, Kate and Carol, who live extremely different lives, an ocean apart, in the 1940's. Kate's story was one of love, discrimination, cruelty and loss that was so heartbreaking. I couldn't put this book down! I liked the way the story all came together at the end and I was SO happy that at least one nun chose to do the right thing! I can't believe things like this actually happened in Ireland. The way unwed mothers and their children were treated was awful. This the first book that I read by this author but I will be seeking out others in the near future as I really enjoyed this one. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this book, I could n’ t put it down, I literally Heldon The Brenta Gill The end. Wonderful, compelling characters, absolutely human and real. I highly recommend it, The more moving is in my opinion that of Carol a woman who is a le to confront and conquer any adversity life put in her path.

I could not finish this book. I got half way through. I kept going back to try to finish it and I couldn't. Every sentence made me blood boil.. I felt like this book was more about physical and mental abuse rather that a stolen baby.
This is just my opinion, others have finished and liked it.
I have read other books by Rachel and I will continue to read her other books.

This is a new author for me which I really enjoyed and look forward to reading more from her in the future. This is a well written, emotional story about a mother whose daughter was taken from her and sold. The mother is determined and vowed to never stop looking for her. I enjoyed being pulled into the story from the beginning. The characters are relateable and truly made the story for me. They are heart pulling, strong and determined characters that are supportive of each other. I enjoyed their growth throughout the story as well as the plot. This is a fast paced story that is hard to put down and takes place during WW2. It is a historical, emotional story that too me on a roller coaster ride. I really enjoyed this book and found it entertaining. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review.

Wow what an emotional rollercoaster of a read, I was enchanted and heartbroken, I absolutely loved this book. Before starting this book I recommend getting a big box of tissues at the ready.

Stolen From Her Mother is an emotional WWII novel about how unwed mothers and their children were treated at that time in Ireland. The story follows Kate and her baby Eva. When it was discovered she was pregnant, Kate was sent to a Magdalen Laundry. The Cruel treatment from the nuns and horrid living conditions at the convent is heartbreaking. Thanks to author Rachel Wesson, publisher Bookouture, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book and read it in one sitting. Such a sad story but yet it still made me smile throughout. Kate was such a feisty character that I just loved her right from the start. I've been recommending this book to everyone I know. A big 5 stars from me

I enjoyed the early release of Stolen from her Mother. It was hard to imagine the young woman being treated so cruelly in the home for unwed mothers, but know it’s based on truth. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book

Heart-wrenching, emotional, yet full of love…..that’s how I would describe this story. A baby created through love, but before marriage leads to a hard life for Kate. She is sent to a home for unwed mothers that proves to be a very cruel place! Meanwhile, through no fault of her own, another woman desperately wants a child. This story shows how their lives became intertwined. Loved it!

What a heartbreaker! Tissues at the ready. Loved this book for the factual side regarding the Magdalene Laundries, upsetting thought it was.
We follow Kate through her journey, being sent to live with her Uncle Pat and cousin Mary where she meets up with Tony. The war keeps them apart after Kate finds her self with child. Her mother being a strict catholic sends her to the mother and baby home!
Who knew what went on in these places? It was an education as the story is based on fact as is explained in detail at the end.
Rachel’s books never disappoint. Please read this, it will stay with you afterwards.

In reading this book, my heart was broken for so many people who lost family, property and friends during WW11. This is a story of those living in Ireland who suffered poverty, stringent laws not only of the community but of the church, and, the lives of young women who grieved other losses. In the 1940’s, war ravaged Europe, concentration camps in Ireland had Germans as well as Americans. This book describes young men and women who met in pubs, danced when allowed, and, sometimes met someone special. Those lovers often resulted in babies for a gal to care for as the men went back to war. This is the story of Kate Ryan who loved Tony from Colorado and he didn’t return to be the father of Eva. Harsh times were lived as unwed mothers went to orphanage centers to work, live, have the baby and realize that child would not be living their lives with biological Moms. This book is a reality check of situations of pain and suffering; bring out the Kleenex; and, read this amazing book. Thanks to the author for terrific writing!

OMG! I couldn't read this fast enough and now I'm sad it's over. Rachel's books always grabs my heart and doesn't let go. You fall in love with her characters on page one and ride the roller-coaster of emotions with them throughout the book. I have adopted two boys and her books always appeal to me for that reason as well.

This was such a beautiful story. The author did an exceptional job of bringing the reader into the characters lives and living with them. The love, hurt, hatred, the forgiveness. I am definitely recommending this book. A great gift.

Lovechild

Wow! What a powerful story. Shame on Ireland and shame on the Catholic Church for treating these unwed mothers as criminals. The cruel and inhumane treatment is not much better than that of the people put in concentration camps by the Nazi's. Surviving on very little food, working all day, being berated, slapped and beaten for even speaking. Their children taken away and sold to rich American's and Englishmen. Then they have the nerve to say if the girls cannot pay the large amount to buy their freedom than they have to work for three years at the home for unwed mothers to pay for their care for the time they are there before and after delivering their child. Some perish and never leave. The babies that don't make it are buried out back in unmarked graves with no funeral. Some of the girls are very young and there because of rape or incest but they are still treated as criminals, absolutely no sympathy or compassion. The thing I found the hardest to believe is that they were put there by their families who shunned them.

Kate is a loving daughter with a loving father and an overbearing mother with a sympathy for the Nazi's. Kate works on her parent's farm with her brother Joe, the rest of the children already have escaped to the cities. Kate's mother wishes her to be a nun, Kate wants to escape and wants freedom to live her life how she wishes.

Kate is a dutiful daughter and does as she is told. When her Uncle asks for her help in another village her father agrees to let her go for a month to help out. It's there that she meets an American airman tony and falls in love. They plan to be married when Tony returns after the war is over. Soon after Tony leaves she finds she is to have his child. When her Uncle finds out he is horrified. She is shunned by the village and a kind priest goes home with her to talk to her parents. Her parents shun her as well and she is sent to the home for unwed mothers and her mother refuses to have anything further to do with her. Eventually she has a little girl and calls her Eva.

Meanwhile in America a young couple, a doctor and his wife Josh and Carol are reeling after a car accident causes Carol to have a miscarriage and lose their child. When she finds out she can have no further children she is devastated. After having a breakdown she is sent to an asylum by her mother in law for treatment. It is all a misunderstanding and should never have happened, but it did. This causes the couple to be turned down for adoption. A Priest who is a friend of Josh tells him of the unwed mothers home in Ireland and how he can adopt a child in return for a very sizable donation to the church. Josh adopts Eva.

Kate has no say in this and is totally devastated that her daughter is gone and she has no way of finding out where she has been taken or who the adoptive parents are. Now Kate has to find a way to escape from the unwed mothers home and search for her daughter. Will she succeed and will she ever find her daughter?

This story is one of the most heartbreaking stories I have ever read. I cried for Kate and for Gwen and for the other mothers in the story. I do recommend this story.

Thanks to Rachel Wesson for writing a great story, to Bookouture for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available for me to read.

Grab your tissues and get ready for a truly heartbreaking but touching book. I could not put it down, I grew so attached to the characters. This was my first book from this author and now I want to dive into everything she has ever written. Loved it!!

Set in 1941 Ireland, Stolen from Her Mother is a heartbreaking and gripping story that follows Kate, a young lady in love during a time of war. When her beloved airman, Tony, returns to war, she soon finds out she is expecting his child out of wedlock. Shunned from her family and community, she is forcibly sent to a cruel Magdalene laundry home for pregnant women. Seen as fallen, less-than, and unlovable mothers and babies, Kate must navigate the abuse while trying to stay strong for her child. When her child is ultimately sold, she vows never to stop searching. Interwoven with another somber story, Stolen from Her Mother is a fantastic read of perseverance, love, and grace.

Warning once you turn the first page you won’t be putting this read down, it is that good!
The atrocities that were committed in the name of the church, and condoned by the Irish government, unreal, and yet, yes, this is a fictional book, but if you read the author’s notes, it is based on fact.
The story is wonderfully done, and you will feel like your walking in Kate’s shoes, and unfortunately, all that she had to endure.
I loved how far that author brings us into the lives of those we soon care about, and even with the conclusion, she shares these characters with us, so we are left without questions as to what happened.
This is not my first book by Ms Wesson, and it will not be my last.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Bookouture, and was not required to give a positive review

Dear moms!
While the tears in my eyes are drying up, I am writing to all women, especially to moms, this letter, because I want to recommend you a wonderful book about a young girl Kate. It is not just a love story or fiction book, it's a great work of art, the story based on real events, the book, after reading that you will never be the same!
So, the author takes us back to the World War ll in Ireland, where the word 'mother' did not refer to all women with children, on the contrary, a woman who gave birth could not always be a mother. Kate paid for her love with humiliation, cruelty and the loss of the most precious thing, her daughter!
The events taking place in the book were so realistic that I could hardly restrain my anger, the impulse to start a fight for the freedom of pregnant women, a fight for justice. Fortunately, I realized in time that all that was happening in Ireland, in 1944, and I was at home, and in front of me was a book! My heart was torn to pieces from the wish to help Kate and her friends, I wanted to alleviate their suffering. Why were they experiencing all that? Why was life so unfair to them?
This book is about mothers and, as I believe, is written for us, mothers, because who else if not us would understand what that means to be a mother?
I think that this brilliant book, Kate and the other women's story, must to be read and then many people will know that shameful part of History, which I unwittingly compared to the Holocaust. It must not be forgotten.
I am sure that you will love this amazing book as I did, and you will never forget those events, never!
With love,
L.T.
P.S. thanks to Rachel Wesson, Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this great book!

Kate Ryan is excited to spend the summer working for her uncle in his Irish pub, looking forward to the freedom away from her overbearing mother and burdensome farm chores in the Galway countryside. When she meets handsome American pilot Tony Burton, a POW until released to fly again for the Allies, she falls deeply in love. How could she ever be prepared for the consequences of their brief time together? Heartbreak, tragedy, and hope intertwine in this tale of relentlessly searching for those you hold dear.