Set in both 1949 and 2013, The Only Child is both a thrilling crime novel and riveting historical fiction piece. In 2013, Fairmile is being renovated as a boutique hotel, by soon to be sheriff, Frankie and her mother, Diana. In 1949, it is a home for teenage mothers to hide away while pregnant. The murder mystery elements were woven together seamlessly with the heartbreaking view into the past events, where mothers were forced to give their babies up for adoption. I loved the realistic family dynamics shown in this novel, as well as the evocative setting of Fairmile.

The Only Child is a dual POV with multiple timelines. It jumps between 1949, where we follow Brigid, a pregnant 16-year-old whose parents send away to a house for unwed, pregnant girls operated by Catholic nuns. The girls stay until their baby is born and then they are expected to give them up to a family who cannot have their own or settle the very costly fees which most families cannot afford. In 2013, we follow Frankie, a police officer who has been through something traumatic and decides it is time for a change. She now lives with her mom who’s working on an old house with dreams of making it a bed and breakfast. Her teenage daughter also comes to stay with them for the summer, as Frankie hopes to make up for some lost time.

As secrets unfold in both timelines, the storylines start to take shape into something much bigger.

Although slightly predictable and slower-paced, it was well-written, easy to follow, and our MCs are likeable.

Thank you W. W. Norton Company and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book takes place over two different timelines: 1949 and 2013. In 1949 a teenage girl named Brigid arrives at Fairmile Island, a home for "fallen" teenage girls. The nuns who run the place are abusive and plan on taking her child and having them adopted by a respectable Catholic family. In 2013, Frankie Gray arrives on the island to help her mother restore the home in order to turn it into a hotel. Then the body of a nun as well as the body of an infant are discovered buried on the grounds. I really liked how the two timelines played out and how they intersected with one another. It made it a very interesting read and I enjoyed it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

I really enjoyed the historical aspect of this mystery! I learned a lot about the history of pregnant young women and the difficult choices they had to make, all while following along with an intriguing mystery. The writing is atmospheric and the characters are unique and interesting.

The Only Child by Kayte Nunn is a historical fiction book, which I normally don’t read but I enjoyed this one. Frankie’s tenacity is admirable and while the secrets are heartbreaking, they make for a great story. Well written and with perfect pacing, this is a book with characters that you will enjoy getting to know.

The Only Child by Kayte Nunn

Frankie Gray is determined to make this summer a perfect one to reconnect not only with her teenage daughter Izzy but also with her own mother and grandmother on small Orcades Island in the Puget Sound. Ingrid, the family matriarch, has a coveted spot in the Pacifica Gardens nursing home there, while Frankie’s mom Diana is rehabilitating Fairmile, a former admiral’s residence, with the intent of turning the dilapidated property into a bed and breakfast. Frankie herself has just accepted a position with the island’s sheriff’s department but isn’t due to start till September, giving her a few months to focus on repairing her own strained relationship with her daughter. Izzy lives most of the year with her father Lucas in California, a decision the amicably divorced parents agreed to when Frankie accepted a policing job in Australia over five years ago.

All Frankie’s good intentions fall to the wayside, however, when one of Ingrid’s fellow nursing home residents is murdered. Deputy Molly Dowd seems to have it all under control, but freely admits that she lacks the staffing to investigate as thoroughly as she likes. Frankie can’t help pitching in, if only out of concern for her own grandmother’s well-being.

The deeper Frankie delves into the life of the victim, however, the more unsettled she becomes. The dead woman, Bernadette Evans, was once known as Sister Agatha, and had worked at Fairmile when it was a mother-and-baby home. The Catholic institution had taken in young unwed mothers, then adopted their babies out to “deserving” couples. Frankie is perhaps naively astounded by the stories and numbers she uncovers in the course of her investigations:

QUOTE
Until that moment, she had, like many she supposed, more sympathy for the children who had been adopted, the sense of loss they often felt, and hadn’t considered how shameful and devastating it must have been for the birth mothers of those children. Even though she’d seen the figures from the Fairmile ledgers, she was shocked by the numbers involved. According to one of the books, between 1945 and 1973 some one and a half million babies were adopted in the US. That meant there had been one and a half million girls (give or take)--mothers–most of whom were given no choice but to give away their babies.
END QUOTE

Things get even darker when renovation work on the grounds of her mother’s dream B&B uncovers a tiny skeleton. Could this be connected somehow to Bernadette’s death? Regardless, someone wants Frankie to quit looking into the matter, and will seemingly stop at nothing, including threatening not only Frankie’s life but her loved ones’ too, to make sure that Fairmile’s secrets stay buried where they belong.

While I was a little surprised at the idea that the pain of the adopted is given more coverage than the pain of the mothers who are too often coerced into give up their children, I did think this was a good attempt at bringing to light the injustices of forced birth and forced separation, particularly in the United States’ current political climate. Kayte Nunn interweaves the outrages of the past with the family dynamics of four strong, modern women as they confront their own history and the secrets they’ve kept from one another. The chapters go back and forth in time: in 2013, Frankie juggles uncovering the truth with caring for her family, while in 1949 the poisonous heart of Fairmile is gradually revealed, in part through the actions of one sinister woman:

QUOTE
She is doing God’s work, and what greater glory is there than that? Helping these sinful girls, sheltering them, when no one else will. Their families certainly don’t want them, not after what they’ve done, the shame they’ve brought on themselves and their kin. These girls have sinned in the worst possible way; how could there not be a seed of evil in each of them? It is her responsibility, her <i>calling</i>, to rid them of it, just as they are relieved of the results of their sin, their babies given to righteous, <i>Catholic</i>, couples.
END QUOTE

Despite the specters of death and malice that loom over both eras, the power of a mother’s love is the main throughline of each. Frankie must protect her daughter even as she uncovers uncomfortable truths about her own mom. Back in 1949, a young woman known only as Brigid must fight to keep her child even when all the odds are stacked against her. Readers will root for both women as the narrative reveals just how closely their stories are intertwined.

I enjoyed the story and the dual timelines. I found that the story moved slightly slow for my taste. But the story and timelines came together beautifully.

Frankie, an ex-cop who has recently returned from working in Australia, is hoping to reconnect with her daughter while also spending the summer with her mom renovating Fairmile Inn. Renovations are well underway and Diana, Frankie’s mom, hopes to reopen the former home for unmarried mothers as a bed & breakfast. But when an elderly nun who worked at the home dies under suspicious circumstances, the past of Fairmile is brought to the surface. And the renovations unearth a tiny skeleton. When Frankie goes looking for answers, what she finds are disturbing secrets that had been buried for decades.

This story was told in third person in dual timelines from the point of view of Frankie in 2013 and from 16 year old “Brigid” in 1949. While I was interested in the maternity home storyline, the rest of the book didn’t work for me. I felt like it had too much going on with Frankie juggling too many things from her recovery from a failed case in Australia and an injury, helping her mother Diana prepare the property to open as bed and breakfast, visiting her grandmother in the rest home, repairing her relationship with her daughter who’s been living with her father for the last five years while she was working overseas, flirting with the local bar owner, stepping all over the toes of the local deputy on the murder investigation where she will be working in the fall though she’s supposed to be spending her time with her family.

I enjoyed the tie-in with her family to the case, but I never really understood why a cop would take a job in Australia and leave her child in America when there are plenty of law enforcement jobs here. That was never really explained fully, just that it was a good opportunity but it didn’t sound any different than any other law enforcement opportunity. I’m not sure if I was supposed to take away the desire to raise your own child from the former storyline juxtaposed with Frankie’s taking for granted that she was losing time with her daughter. I feel like that should have been a point to the story but it didn’t come across in a satisfactory manner.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penzler Publishers Scarlet for a copy provided for an honest review.

A great mystery told in duel timelines. A pregnant girl in the 1940’s stands little chance of keeping her child. Enter the nuns, from notoriously abusive Catholic homes for unwed mothers. The horrors that have gone on in these homes….fast forward to 2013. Frankie is now living in the former girls home, about to uncover a giant mystery. But as she gets close to solving it, it is clear that some will go to any lengths to keep that past in the past.

Who would murder an elderly nun in her room at a care home on a tourist island off the coast of Washington? That's the question Frankie, who has come home after years in Australia, sets out to answer because her grandmother Ingrid is also a resident. This dual time line novel moves between 2013, when Frankie's mother Diana is renovating what was once a house for unwed mothers and she's getting to know her daughter again, and the 1940s, when the teenaged Brigid has been sent to the nuns because she is pregnant. You might think you know the answers - and yes you will know some of them- to Frankie's questions, but its twisty enough to make you question your own assumptions. It's nicely atmospheric on both time lines and the setting is terrific. Frankie- well, I'd like to see more with her. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

The Only Child, the just-published mystery novel by Kayte Nunn (The Botanist's Daughter), follows a slow-burn mystery that cuts back and forth between the past and the present. First, there's the year 1949, during which a pregnant teenage girl named Brigid is shipped off to Fairmile, a home for unwed mothers that resides on Orcades Island in Puget Sound. This is an environment that pressures the moms-to-be to place their babies for adoption rather than letting them bring the babies back home, with authoritarian Catholic nuns in place to maintain the strict rules and instill shame in the young women who are carrying children out of wedlock. Then there's the other half of the plot, which is set in 2013 and follows former city police detective Frankie Gray as she's moving from Australia to the U.S., relocating to Orcades Island, and reuniting with her daughter Izzy after a separation period of five years. It initially looks like Frankie and Izzy will have plenty of time to focus on reconnecting, but then a former Fairmile nun dies under dubious circumstances at an assisted living facility. The situation only grow murkier when an infant's skeleton is dug up from Fairmile, which Frankie's mother Diana has been renovating into an inn.

While this is being marketed as a mystery novel, I think it's important to clarify that this isn't the kind of mystery that hinges on jaw-dropping twists and quick pacing. Instead, it leans much more heavily toward setting up a moody, almost smoky atmosphere that slowly draws you in and incrementally builds up the tension until a specific reveal that greatly escalates the pressure at the start of the third act, shifting the tone into that of a full-on psychological thriller. Before that point, it's all a slow-burn, so just make sure you keep that in mind while reading The Only Child.

The 2013 timeline is pretty engaging as Frankie resolves to learn if foul play was involved in the nun's death, figure out what happened to the baby corpse who'd been unearthed from Fairmile, and rebuild a loving relationship with Izzy. But there were points where I wasn't as interested in the present-day plot as I felt like I should have been; the deliberate pacing might have played a role in that. Personally, I was more enthralled by the 1949 timeline and the hardships that Brigid had to bear at Fairmile. It's quite timely, considering our current state of abortion healthcare and all the women who have been—and are being—coerced into enduring childbirth.

Overall, segments of The Only Child can be a slog to read through, but I think it's worth picking up, especially if its historical context appeals to you.

Why are more people not talking about this?! It was SO good. Loved the dual timelines. Loved how gripping the plot was. This is flying under the radar but deserves to be front and center.

This was a fantastic read. I love psychological thrillers. The twists in this, I did not see coming. Fast-paced and kept me engaged!

4.5 stars

This was a wonderful historical thriller, both eye-opening and heartbreaking, and I couldn’t put it down until Frankie discovered the truth behind what really occurred at Fairmile.

Frankie is an ex-cop hoping to reconnect with her daughter (Izzy) while also spending the summer with her mother (Diana) at the Fairmile Inn. Renovations are underway and Diana hopes to reopen the former home for unmarried mothers as a boutique hotel. But the past suddenly comes flooding back as an elderly nun who worked at the home dies under suspicious circumstances. To make matters worse, a tiny skeleton is discovered on the grounds of the property, and when Frankie goes looking for answers, what she finds are heart-wrenching secrets that had been buried for decades.

I truly enjoyed reading this book and getting to know Brigid, Sally, and Sara during their time at Fairmile. They arrived under similar circumstances, shunned by their families and shamed by the nuns who took them in, but they found comfort in one another when no one else showed them any kindness. I really admired Brigid’s strength and unwavering determination, despite what she endured, and though their situations were quite different, I noticed a lot of similarities between her and Frankie.

Highly recommend this book!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers/Scarlet for providing a copy of this book to review.*

A mom and her daughter disappear from a "fallen woman" home in 1949. In 2013, a nun from that time also disappears. Are they related, and can Ex-cop Frankie Gray find the killer before someone else dies, including herself?

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. What a tangled web of a storyline! The novel in well-written and easy to follow, but the twists and turns in the plot line were unexpected and thrillingly surprising.

Thrilling read! I was able to connect with all of the characters and throughly enjoyed the story the author painted.

This book follows Frankie Gray, a detective returning to the Pacific Northwest to help her mother remodel Fairmile, a former home for 'fallen women,' into a boutique inn. A nun who worked at Fairmile when it was run by the Catholic Church dies under mysterious circumstances, and not long after, a tiny skeleton is discovered on the grounds of the house. Frankie's curiosity builds as events progress, and her story is interspersed with the experiences of a pregnant 16-year-old who was sent to Fairmile in 1949. What is the connection between the events of the past and the current mysteries that all seem to connect to Fairmile? Can Frankie solve the case before anyone else is harmed?
I love a historical mystery, especially if there's a dual timeline involved. I enjoyed those aspects of this book. Both stories were engaging enough to keep me interested, though much of the plot was easily predictable. There were also a lot of elements that didn't need to be there: Frankie's backstory seemed important at first but was barely addressed, there were multiple references to a serial killer that was entirely irrelevant (though not significant enough to be a red herring), and the relationships between characters barely scratched the surface. Frankie's potential romance felt especially unnecessary.
In the actual writing of the book, more things fell flat for me. The pacing was wacky: excessive exposition led to a rush at the end with a very anticlimactic ending. The dialogue was boring and stilted at times. The overall premise of this book was good, and the mystery was decent. Overall, I enjoyed the historical timeline more than the present day. It was an interesting look at the effects of teenage pregnancy on young girls in an era when they didn't have access to resources.

Family drama meets age old mystery in the latest historical fiction from Kayte Nunn – The Only Child. The dual timeframes (1949 and 2013) help set the stage for a remarkable story whose setting is a home for Unwed Mothers. In 1949 a young teen finds herself pregnant outside of wedlock. Because of the shame this incident will cause her family she is sent to a very remote island in the Pacific Northwest where she will give birth. The conditions that the young unmarried females had to endure are unfathomable. Nunn exposes the raw shame and immense oppression heaped upon these girls in the 1940’s; many by their own families to save face at the expense of their own daughter.
In 2013, Frankie an ex-cop investigates the death of a former nun/patient at her grandmothers nursing home. What ensues is a crime from the past that will connect three generations of women in ways they could not have imagined.
This is my first Kayte Nunn book, but not my last. Thank you NetGallery for my ARC.

I’d consider this book historical fiction however the mystery really drew me in and ties everything together. I love Anything set in the 40-50s era and this story was so good. Highly recommend!