The Foundling by Stacey Halls Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

Title- The Foundling

Author- Stacey Halls

Series- N/A

Published- 2020

Page Count- 383 pages 
Publishing House- Manilla Press

Genre- historical fiction, feminist  

Rating- 3/5 stars 

To read my review of Stacey's other book, The Familiars, click here.  

About the Author 

Stacey Halls was born in 1989 and grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and has written for publications including the Guardian, Stylist, Psychologies, The Independent, The Sun and Fabulous. 

Her first book The Familiars was the bestselling debut novel of 2019. The Foundling is her second novel.

Taken from Stacey's website.

Plot

A mother's love knows no bounds. . .

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her newborn, Clara, at London't Foundling Hospital, young Bess Bright returns to reclaim the illegitimate daughter she has never really known. Dreading the worst - that Clara has died in care - the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.

Les than a mile from Bess' lodgings in a quiet town house, a wealthy widow barely ventures outside. When her close friend - an ambitious doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her young daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her - and will soon tear her carefully constructed world apart.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Georgian London, 'THE LOST ORPHAN' explores families and secrets, class and power, and how the pull of motherhood cuts across them all. 

Taken from Goodreads. 

Opinions

I read and adored The Familiars by Stacey Halls in July, flying through it in about four days. It had a compelling plot, an interesting main character and historical period/setting I was very interested in. I read it while on holiday in Devon and was so in love with it that I immediately bought her second book in paperback in Devon. I was sure that this was going to be a book I loved. Sadly, I was wrong.

I think having the dual perspectives after only having one in her previous books didn't work for me. I didn't mind Bess' POV. It was similar to Fleetwood from The Familiars and I liked her. I felt that she was an interesting main character, with the mystery surrounding how she became pregnant and her lower class background. If the book had been entirely from Bess' POV, I think this would have been just as interesting as The Familiars. Bess was fierce, she had great friends and other characters to interact with. She felt down to earth and real. I'll now explain the other POV and why it didn't work for me.

Alexandra was the other POV. She was Charlotte's adopted mother and to put it bluntly, I didn't like her. I found her POV confusing, at times I thought her parents were alive, others it was clear they were dead. It was very clear she didn't want a child and spent a long time talking about how she wasn't fit to be a mother. I felt no sympathy for her. I was just irritated by her and wanted to get back to Bess' POV. Her ending with giving Charlotte back to Bess and somehow ending up in a relationship with the doctor felt off. We just didn't click and that's part of the reason why I gave this book a lower rating than The Familiars.

Asides from the characters, I didn't connect with the plot as much. For one thing, the big reveal of how Alexandra came to have adopted Charlotte was fairly weak. Alexandra's sister just happened to be there when Bess was dropping Charlotte off. It felt a bit too convenient. Just like Alexandra's sister having to leave for the country as soon as Bess was hired. The romance between Bess and Lyle felt a bit out of the blue, but it was nice to see her have a happy ending.

I did like that it highlighted to conditions of Foundlings in the 1700, many of whom were left by their mothers for better lives. I think Stacey Halls is great at highlighting important issues to women. This book was about motherhood and what it meant to be a good mother. I just struggled to connect with it as much as I did her previous book. I did find it easy to read and flew through it again. I'm now unsure if I want to read her third book. I may give it some time and then pick it up, but before this I would have said Stacey was one of my auto-buy authors. This book has made me unsure how I feel and I might need a third book to determine my thoughts.    

What did you think of The Foundling??