A touching tale of family, friendship and love. Cissy comes of age in this gentle story of a girl who didn't have any advantages but who keeps her head up and her heart open. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I would like to thank Bookouture Publishing and the Netgalley website for this partnership.

I was immediately attracted by the cover of this book, you can see Cissy in the street alone

The story takes place at the beginning of 1901, we find Cissy who at six years old is a daughter of the hospice. She lives among the other orphans. Until the day her mother comes to pick her up except that she is not as she expected. She will grow up fast and when she goes to work for the first time she will realize that people are not that honest.

A book read in one go so much I found the story so captivating, moving, full of suspense and twists and turns. I immediately became attached to the character of Cissy, who was so small when she found her mother again and who had to learn to overcome the vagaries of life. I recommend this book.

A very bitter sweet story. Heartbreaking but yet also uplifting at times.
A story of fear, anger, tears but yet laughter, hope, family, friendship and joy.
Great characteristion made me very fond of the vulnerable Cissy as we follow her journey in life from the workhouse to growing up and the challenges she faces.
The descriptive and atmospheric language really captivated me.
A wonderful story.
My thanks go to Netgalley, the publisher and author for providing this arc in return for a honest review

Sorry I did not get to read this one before it was archived. I am in college and have a big workload this year.

I'm not a big fan of romance books, but this one got my attention as it was compared to the Orphan train children. Not quite, but it was interesting in it's own right. For many children in the past, and even the present, life does have a way of dragging them away from loved ones and familiar places and it's fascinating to read about their lives. Cissy is left at a "home" and then reclaimed by her mother and taken home. But life has other plans for her. Life's currents don;t always lead where you expect them to, so not a bad tale. It is a quick and interesting story.

Wow! Wow! Wow!! This book was amazing!! I could not put down! This was such great storytelling by the author. She really brought these characters alive in my mind.

First of all the title of this book is completely misleading. From the first few pages it is revealed that Cissy is actually not an orphan. Also, based on the title and cover image, I kept waiting for her to make a long journey, such as a trans-Atlantic voyage. That didn't happen at all.

It was an interesting story, but I did feel like sometimes the characters lacked any depth. The most touching part was Cissy's relationship with the Granddaddy. This book could easily work as a TV series.

We first meet Cissy Ryan when, at the age of six, she leaves a workhouse holding the hand of a woman claiming to be her mammy. The workhouse for orphans is the only home Cissy has ever known and her mammy isn’t quite the kind of mother she expected. In fact Cissy was sure her name was Martha and she didn’t even have a mammy. Nevertheless, Cissy moves in with her mammy and her grandfather, a grumpy old man, in a tiny cottage. Life is suddenly very different but there is a silver lining and his name is Colm Doyle.

From these humble beginnings, we follow Cissy as she grows up and goes out into the world to work at prestigious Breton Hall. Here Cissy learns all about the divide between the poor and the rich and that some people aren’t honest or even nice. Their sense of entitlement is remarkable as they go through life without a care in the world for the people who work for them or their circumstances.

Cissy is an absolutely delightful character and I warmed to her immediately, even though she sometimes came across as a little too good to be true and quite naive. Growing up in early 1900’s Ireland was tough and I feel the author really brought that era to life. From poverty to prejudice to the stigma attached to unwed mothers, these weren’t exactly happy times.

The Little Orphan Girl is a beautifully written, though not entirely surprising, historical fiction story about family, love and friendship. Full of wonderful characters, it will have you rooting for them all the way and wishing for a happy ending. Despite the certain level of predictability and the fact that I quite prefer my historical fiction with a bit more depth to it, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Cissy and following her on her journey.

Thank you Bookouture for the copy of this book to review, via Netgalley.

I have never read any of Sandy Taylor's books and enjoyed her way with story telling ....I was captivated by the lead character Cissy.

Cissy's story begins when she is just 5 and we follow her through her childhood and early adult hold.
This book is sold as being "heartbreaking" and "gripping", I can honestly say I was gripped and was keen to get back to read more of Cissy's life. However, call me hard hearted, but I didn't find the story heartbreaking.....maybe there are similar stories out that have educated us on the workhouse and beyond in Ireland of this era..
Certainly I was attracted to the book by this theme which I am learning about as part of discovering my own family history.
And was pleasantly surprised to read of the kind and caring nuns that help Cissy down in London. I have only heard of nasty nuns that abused their cares....or maybe I am thinking of an era after this book was set in the early 1900's.

Against all the odds, Cissy does show herself to be a kind caring girl. And luckily she was surrounded by loving family and friends. And her pure loveliness brought a lightness to her story and made me feel ever optimistic for her.

What a lovely little nod to history near the ending too ....but I won't give away too much.

This is a special story to author as loosely based on her mothers time as a workhouse child.

The Little Orphan Girl: The heartbreaking and gripping journey of an Irish orphan by Sandy Taylor is a beautifully written, emotional story of romance, hardships, heartbreak and the innocence of youth.

The book is set in Ireland in the early 1900’s and tells the story of Cissy Ryan. For the first years of her life she is brought up in the workhouse thinking she’s an orphan. Cissy leaves the workhouse with a woman called Moira, who she later learns is in fact her Mother. Cissy and Moira move in with her Grandfather and her life starts to change for the better. At first her grandfather does not acknowledge Cissie since she is the product of a relationship out of wedlock. Cissie adjusts to her new life making new friends and talking "at" her grandfather until he begins to respond. There are a lot of ups and downs in Cissy’s life, some of this I found predictable, but it didn’t stop the enjoyment of the book

I loved the characters in this book.  The author has a knack for injecting the right amount of humor into what is a bleak and poor existence.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Sandy Taylor’s books give me the feels! Honestly, I knew that this book was going to make me cry and that I would love it even before I read it. This author just keeps coming up with the most beautiful, heart wrenching stories. Now I want to move to rural Ireland and find a nice Irish guy with a horse! Okay, not really but seriously though, I loved this story.

Little Cissy has always known that she is an orphan. However, she suddenly finds herself with a quiet mommy and a grumpy granddad who doesn’t really want her around. As Cissy gets to know the two, her life begins to change. Soon afterwards, she meets the friendly Colm Doyle and his lovely horse, Blue. Cissy’s life later takes a dramatic turn when she starts working at Bretton Hall and meets ‘the honorables’. She is introduced to a different kind of life with people very different from those previously in her life.

This is the kind of story that spans over a number of years. It begins with Cissy as a little girl and takes readers through her life to her teens and beyond. I loved this character! She was so nice though a little naive but I really wanted everything to turn out well for her. As a little girl, Cissy was so adorable and as she grew, the adversities in her life made her even more likeable. I can’t think of a single character that I didn’t like in this story, well apart from the obvious villains.

Apart from the charming characters, the setting is also wonderful. I liked the rural Irish town where Cissy was raised. The neighbors, even the nosy ones were all interesting. The class divide added some angst to the story and contributed to the twists.

I didn’t want this story to end and even after it did, I felt like hugging the book and just keeping the characters with me. I know, I know, hugging books is a bit out there but this one is seriously huggable. I have no doubt that the characters will stay with me, especially Cissy.

What a beautiful, poignant story about love, friendship and family!

~~Reviewed by AnnMarie~~

This book is fully titled The Little Orphan Girl: The heartbreaking and gripping journey of an Irish orphan. Please don’t let that put you off reading this book. Personally, I don’t like books that can break my heart, but there was just something about this one that made me decide to break my usual rule of only reading ‘happy’ books and I am so glad that I did.

Cissy Ryan is just 6 years old when the story begins. She has lived all of her life in a workhouse, then suddenly one day a woman she doesn’t know but who says she is Cissy’s mother, comes to get her. Cissy thinks she is just going for a day out with the woman, but instead she is taken to a run-down old house where her very smelly grandfather lives and is told that this will her home from now on. Cissy misses her friends in the workhouse but soon enough comes to terms with her new life with her real family.

From there the story develops as she grows up and we see the trials, tribulations plus happy times that Cissy has. There are some very funny moments such as the times when Cissy is more outspoken than perhaps she should be, there are sentimental moments, and there are, yes, heartbreaking moments. I don’t think I have ever cried so much reading a book. BUT don’t fret, despite the hardships she endures, Cissy will have her happy ending, and it makes all that she has gone through worth it.

I would love to write all about the moments in the book that meant so much to me, especially the ones that brought me to tears, but that would be giving too much of the story away. Suffice to say that despite this being a very emotive book there is always the feeling that Cissy will survive the odds, she is strong and despite sometimes wanting to give up, she doesn’t. She is a wonderful character. In fact, there are so many wonderful characters in this book it is what makes it as wonderful as it is. I can’t recommend this book highly enough, but you must have a box of tissues, and maybe a bar of chocolate with you for comfort while you read it.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

The Little Orphan Girl
Sandy Taylor
5 stars
Ireland 1901 – When Cissy and her real mom are brought back together, Cissy’s life changes. But she’s not prepared for some of the changes she is faced with. The house she goes to live in is not grand and is inhabited by a grumpy old man she learns is her grandfather. Over time she changes her grandfather’s heart and they become fast friends. Along with her friend Colm, she learns to value herself and is confident she will become a better person. When an opportunity presents itself for employment for her at the grand Bretton House, she jumps at the chance. Surrounded by wealth and opulence, Cissy falls for false love and tragedy strikes. What can she do to fix her wrong and win back her one true love?
This story was very touching and truly relatable. The author’s writing is poetic and so easy flowing it begs for the reader to continue on to the last page. The story line is tragic but uplifting. You, as a reader, can’t help rooting for Cissy to catch a needed break and have smooth sailing throughout her life. A reader will no go wrong if they choose The Little Orphan Girl or any other of Sandy Taylor’s work. She greatly captured the history and feel of Ireland in the early 20th century.

I loved this book so much sad at times but loved Cissies journey from the orphanage where it began right to the last page when she find her baby and happiness with the man who has been in her life since childhood lot's of heartache along the way but so pleased there was no cruelty which there often is in these kind of novels a really great read and would fully recommend it first book by this author but definitely not the last

My first book by this author, but it won’t be my last. Set in Ireland in the early 1900’s it tells the story of Cissy Ryan. For the first years of her life she is brought up in the workhouse thinking she’s an orphan. Cissy leaves there with a woman called Moira, who is in fact her Mother. Cissy and Moira move in with her Granddaddy and her life starts to change for the better. There are a lot of ups and downs in Cissy’s life, some of this I found predictable, but it didn’t stop the enjoyment of the book. My only problem with the book was that I couldn’t put it down once I started reading. I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to reading Sandy’s other books soon.

I absolutely adore Sandy’s books even if they do turn me into a bit of an emotional wreck. I couldn’t wait to read ‘The Little Orphan Girl’ and it appealed to me on so many levels, which I will explain a bit later on. All I can say on finishing reading the book is ‘Wow’. I absolutely LOVED it but more about that in a bit.
I really, really felt for the character of Cissy Ryan. When we first meet her she is living in a workhouse. She hasn’t really known any different. One day her mother goes to the workhouse to ‘reclaim’ her daughter. The problem is that Cissy doesn’t recognise her mother and she doesn’t know her so going to live with her mother and her grandfather, who are two strangers to her, is a frightening prospect. The three of them learn to live with each other and relationships are built. Cissy blossoms in their care and I found myself chuckling at some of the things she said as she doesn’t have a filter so she comes straight out with some pearlers of lines. Cissy gets on well at school and she makes a life for herself. The time comes for her to leave school and jump into the world of employment. I found it heart wrenching to read about her leaving her mother and her grandfather and move on to the next stage of her life. I had to make sure I had a supply of tissues handy. I couldn’t help but hope that she would find the happy ever after that she so deserved. Will she find that happy ever after? Well for the answer to that question and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourself to find out because I am not going to tell you.
I said that the book appealed to me on so many levels and now I had better explain in a bit further detail. I absolutely loved the fact that the book is set in Ireland. I have Irish ancestry and I feel an affinity with the Irish. Plus I have ginger hair which I put down to my Celtic roots. The other main reason that the book appealed to me was the fact that it featured an orphan who lived in a workhouse. I am a passionate fan of social history with a special interest in the whole workhouse system. Part of that is down to the fact that I also have a relative, who lived in a workhouse. Granted she wasn’t a child at the time but she did give birth to a baby boy whilst she lived in the institution. I always admired her courage and her determination because giving birth, living in a workhouse and then taking the child with you to live as a single parent in the 1870s were not easy things to do. My relative had previously been in prison, gave birth to a child and then the child went for an informal adoption. So double respect to her. Anyway that is enough about my family history so back to the review I go.
Oh my giddy aunt this was one hell of an emotional rollercoaster read that certainly put me through the emotional wringer and then some. I am not usually one of those people who react so emotionally to a book but with this book I did. The author’s writing style is such that you can’t fail to be drawn into the story and before you realise you are hooked on the book. Sandy’s writing is so realistic that I could visualise the action taking place in front of me- it was as though I was watching a television drama. Her writing is so raw and so convincing that I empathised with Cissy and I literally felt every emotion that she went through.
Reading this book soon became seriously addictive although at times I did have to put the book down. Not because it is badly written or anything like that but because I needed to recover emotionally from what I had just read. The pages of the book seem to fly past in a blur and it seemed like it didn’t take long at all for me to get through the book, but in reality it took a few hours. I was so focused on the story as well as being swept along by it that I didn’t realise just how quick the time was passing. I would pick the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters but that intention soon flew out of the window because I was so desperate to find out what fate had in store for Cissy. I was crossing my fingers and my toes that things worked out for her in the end.
In short I absolutely totally, utterly and absolutely loved reading ‘The Little Orphan Girl’ and I would definitely recommend it to other readers. I can’t wait to see what Sandy Taylor comes up with next. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Not read anything from this author before but have to say was really impressed with the writing and also the storyline. Good read

I can't say how much I loved this deeply moving, beautifully written story about Cissy, The Little Orphan Girl, set in Ireland at the turn of the last century.

We meet Cissy for the first time when she is just six years old and is collected from the workhouse by a stranger who tells her that she is her  'Mammy'. The first chapters captivated me as we see the world through the eyes of a child who has never stepped out of an institution. Having believed she was an orphan she now has to adapt to life in the Irish village, and to a mother and grandfather, she never knew existed. My heart ached for the child who actually missed the workhouse and the people in it because that is the only home she knew.

The book is highly atmospheric and the dialogue is so expertly written that you can actually hear the strong Irish accent when the characters speak. I loved reading about Cissy's journey through life from child to a woman. Her friendship with Colm is utterly adorable and Cissy even managed to warm the heart of 'the devil himself' her miserable grandaddy. Times were hard for Cissy, she faced prejudice and poverty but friendships and family helped her through.

A thoroughly enjoyable, heartwrenching novel but also full of joy and love, truly hard to put down!

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

This book is set in the early 1900's in Cork county. We meet Cissie who is being taken from the workhouse by her the mammy to live with her grandfather who smells like an old ferret. Cissie is not acknowledged by him as she is the product of a relationship out of wedlock. Cissie adjusts to her new life making new friends and talking "at" her grandfather until he begins to respond.

I loved the characters in this book especially Cissie and Colm. The author has a knack for injecting the right amount of humour into what is a bleak and poor existence.

Cissie is introduced into a different way of life when she goes into service at the Honourables in the big house. Life takes her on some unexpected turns and we are carried along with Cissie on an emotional rollercoaster.

Another very enjoyable book by Sandy Taylor full of well rounded and wonderful characters.

I have read a few of the authors books before and couldn’t wait to get stuck into this one.

Cissy Ryan doesn’t have an easy start to her life, but things take a turn when the mammy comes to the orphanage she has been brought up in and takes her home. From that moment her life changes, but is it for the better?

Longing to return to her friend Nora, Cissy attempts to accept her change of circumstances and get on with her new life. Throughout the story we follow Cissy as she grows. No matter what, she never forgets her early years and the friends she made along the way.

There were several parts of the story which had me in tears, and one moment near the end where I gasped out loud.

This was a great story and a brilliant read.