Alice comes home from the war pregnant and alone as the babys father is gone.Her family arrange for her to give up the baby for adoption. A couple, who have been unable to conceive, adopt the baby and call her Irene. Later that year they have a little boy of their own and Irenes adoptive mother finds it hard not to favour him. Irene spends her life trying to fill that hole while Alice fights to maker her place in the world of medicine, always thinking about her baby.
As always Rachel Hore tells a great story. Alice and Irene are great characters who you become fond of. The secondary characters have their own stories which are interesting and the description of their surroundings helps the reader to picture what is happening.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for granting me a copy.

Hugely emotional but a fantastic read. Loved it from start to finish. Looking forward to reading more from the author.

Another great read from Rachel. This starts with the first world war when a VAD falls in love with Jack, a patient, gets pregnant but hopes to marry when Jack gets back, which of course doesn't happen. Alice's stepmother steps in and the baby is given up for adoption. We then follow Alice as she forges a career for herself, gets married and has a family. Irene is adopted but family life isn't quite as good as she'd like. Her best friend who has an unconvential family life of his own supports her along the way to find her 'real' mother. Set between the wars this story highlights the difference in families and their circumstances but shows what determination can do.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

‘The Love Child’ by Rachel Hore is not just an adoption story of birth mother and daughter, it is a story of women’s lives between the wars when shame and public expectation, not love, governed family decisions. In 1917 Alice Copeman, a 19-year old nurse, falls in love with a soldier home on leave. They expect to marry but he is killed. No one else knows of their relationship, it is wartime and everything happened so quickly. But Alice is pregnant.
Mourning for Jack, Alice is forced by her father and stepmother to give the child up for adoption. In the Essex seaside town of Farthingsea, Edith and Philip Burns long for their own child. When they adopt a baby girl Irene, they expect their family to be happily complete. But Irene feels different from her parents and grows frustrated at the lies told about her birth; in particular she struggles to connect with her mother Edith and often feels rejected. At school she is bullied. At home she feels second rate to her younger brother, conceived by Edith and Philip after they adopted Irene. Things improve for Irene when she makes friends with a boy from the disreputable artistic part of town; Tom lives with his single mother and he too is different. Both Tom and his mother are positive influences on Irene.
This is a story told in two strands – Alice and Irene – first as each makes her own way in the world, and then as their paths come closer together. Alice’s story – qualifying as a doctor and working as a GP – is fascinating and a glimpse of a time when female doctors were starting to appear. Irene is also independent, leaving Farthingsea to work in London at an art gallery. In these inter-war years it was still difficult for independent women to make their own way. Old-fashioned standards and expectations prove a challenge for both Alice and for Irene and often at the hands of other women.
A little slow to start, not helped as the storyline jumps around from year to year, it settled down halfway through. At times I confused Irene’s adoptive mother Edith with Alice’s stepmother Gwen, both are sharp-edged women whose words can wound.
This is a novel of love, separation, shame and mother and daughter dynamics; it ultimately shows how the road to love can take many diversions and twists along the way. Both Alice and Irene are rather self-contained and defensive, afraid of being hurt, but they are also capable of being loved if they allow their self-protection to drop. This is a reflective and sensitive portrayal of the adoption dilemma when the hunger of one individual for the truth may cause pain to others.
A note about the cover; I could see no link between the story and a rowing boat at sunset.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Rachel Hore never fails to disappoint: her books are meticulously researched combining authentic scenarios with likeable protagonists and beiievable storylines. 'The Love Child' is no exception centring around plucky heroine, Alice who becomes pregnant after nursing in France during World War One. Alice's family are landed gentry and she is forced by her austere stepmother to give birth in a Mother and Baby home where the baby is summarily adopted, as was the heartbreaking for thousands upon thousands of real-lie women finding themselves in a similar situation during this era and the many subsequent decades. Hore eloquently conveys the trauma of giving up one's baby and navigates through Alice's story its impact on entire futures. In Alice's case she defies her parents' wishes and trains to become a doctor. Again she encounters the sexism and lack of equality faced by women in the 20th Century as she has to fight to prove her worth as a trailblazer within a largely hostile predominantly male cohort. Running parallel to Alice's story is the narrative of Irene, who is adopted by a kindly solicitor and his wife. I was utterly absorbed by the lives of both women, which led me to reflect on the wider issues of the treatment of women and the battle fought by so many to gain acceptance in spheres beyond the domestic and be accorded the rights and civil liberties many of us now take for granted. An engrossing, thought-provoking read for which I thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for granting me permission to read and review in advance.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Simon and Schushter UK for a digital copy via NetGalley during lockdown 2020 - my thoughts are my own.

This is the first book I've read by Rachel Hore although my Kindle tells me that I have bought (but not read) A Week in Paris and The Dream House.

I enjoyed this historical fiction, set between the First World War and the start of the Second World War. Life was very different and an unmarried mother would be frowned on, so Alice is encouraged to give up her baby, Stella. The book follows the lives of Alice and Irene (formerly Stella).

The book covers adoption, mental health, challenging male dominance in medicine, birth control, family secrets, and the social changes after the end of the war. It is well written, full of historical detail and makes you care for the characters.

If you enjoy historical fiction and/or watching shows such as Call the Midwife, then I believe that you will also enjoy this book.

I have read and have loved all of Rachel Hore's previous books so I was looking forward to this one. I certainly wasn't disappointed.

This is a poignant dual time-line book set in between the two world wars. As with all of Rachel's books, this is beautifully written, well researched and with great attention to detail. The characters are engaging and I was willing a happy outcome. An emotional tale of love, loss, separation, grief, friendship and at the centre of the story is family. I was drawn in from the start and found it so difficult to put this book down.

This is an emotive read which I can't recommend highly enough. An easy 5 stars. I can wait for Rachel's next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

As is usual in Rachel Hore novels, The Love Child has a dual time-line. In 1917, while nursing in France, Alice falls in love with Jack. He is killed before they can marry and she discovers she is pregnant. With no choice but to have the baby adopted, Alice still finds it hard to forgive her step-mother, Gwen. Unusually for a woman at that time, Alice goes on to become a doctor. She never tells anyone about the baby she had to give away, even her husband Fergus.
The baby, meanwhile, is adopted by Philip and Edith, who have not been able to have any children of their own, and is named Irene. They then go on to have a son called Clayton, who is his mother’s favourite. Irene has a difficult relationship with her adopted mother, especially after the death of her father. She knows she was adopted and tries to find her birth mother, but this was not an easy task back then.
We follow their stories in the period between the wars as Alice becomes a GP and Irene moves from Suffolk to London to work in an art gallery. The historical detail is fascinating and makes you realise just how much women’s lives have changed since then, and how much they have not. Alice and Irene both have difficult relationships with their mothers, but they eventually make peace with the past. I really enjoyed reading The Love Child and will go back and catch up with a couple of books by Rachel Hore that I have not read yet. She writes such believable characters and gives you a history lesson into the bargain. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

When nineteen-year-old Alice Copeman becomes pregnant, she is forced by her father and stepmother to give up the baby. She simply cannot be allowed to bring shame upon her family. But all Alice can think about is the small, kitten-like child she gave away, and she mourns the father, a young soldier, so beloved, who will never have the chance to know his daughter. Edith and Philip Burns, a childless couple, yearn for a child of their own. When they secretly adopt a baby girl, Irene, their life together must surely be complete. Irene grows up knowing that she is different from other children, but no one will tell her the full truth. Putting hopes of marriage and children behind her, Alice embarks upon a pioneering medical career, striving to make her way in a male-dominated world. Meanwhile, Irene struggles to define her own life, eventually leaving her Suffolk home to find work in London.

Wow! What a stunning, emotional and beautiful read this was. Hore has created a masterpiece with 'The Love Child'. We follow both Alice and Irene through key stages of their lives and to a point where their lives may cross. I enjoyed reading both perspectives and as is common, I started off preferring Alice's chapters and later I preferred Irene's. What did not change is how much I enjoyed all of it and was desperately turning the pages to discover what would happen next.

First and foremost this is a story about family, the decisions that must be made and the consequences of these. The whole plot has a simple beauty to it. The plot is very real, very emotional and quite simply perfect. I really cannot recommend this enough.

The characters are perfect, so real and so wonderful to get to know and follow them. Alice in particular is a force to be reckoned with and what a woman she is! As the book progressed I warmed to Irene, and because we follow her growing up, we really develop a good understanding of her and her story which is very special.

'The Love Child' is a breath-taking story set in tumultuous times that reminds you of the power of love. Stunning perfection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for an advance copy.

I really like Rachel Hore books - she writes beautifully and her books are addictive and moving and brilliant all at the same time. I enjoyed this book but I wasn't blown away by it. Perhaps it was a little too historical for me.

The Love Child by Rachel Hore is a story of how one woman copes with the fallout and long lasting affects of a decision forced upon her but also how this decision has an effect on the person at the centre of it. In January 1918 in the family home in Hertfordshire, Alice Copeman is made to feel so much shame for the situation that has befallen her, one which was born out of love. She finds herself pregnant and her stepmother Gwen believes the family will never get over the shame and unhappiness that has been brought upon their respectable family. Alice's good breeding and education now seem to count for nothing when all she has really done is given in to the feelings of love she has for her soldier boyfriend Jack who was recently killed in the war. Alice is given no say in what should happen to her and it shows how at the time a young women had very little say in the outcome of her life where as an impeccable social standing and maintaining a good front and a stiff upper lip were de rigour. Alice is sent away to have her baby, a girl whom she names Stella, but soon after the birth she is made to give the baby up for adoption and Edith and Philip Burns are the ones to take Stella into their care and they rename her Irene.

So sets the scene and tone for the remainder of the book as Alice must live with the guilt and grief at the forced adoption. She is in no position to go and attempt to claim her baby back as all legal rights were revoked upon completion of the necessary papers and even if she did try and get her child back it is doubtful her father and stepmother would be the most supportive given they were the ones who forced her to give away her baby. As we see Alice grow older, Alice is then sent to London to be a companion to a lady but when this lady dies then is the opportunity that Alice must grab with both hands. She must do something with her life to make Jack's loss meaningful and she embarks upon becoming a doctor. How brave of her in those times when so many doors were closed to women and attempting entry would only result in slammed doors in ones face. But Alice had spirit and determination and I always felt she was spurred on by the events over which she had no control. She wanted to gain some independence but also control her own future where as up until this point she had no choice in what direction her lifes path would take.

I felt throughout the book that every action Alice took and decision she made was always directed by the one event which had changed her life. As she progresses through her degree and meets her friend Barbara and later Fergus she feels she can't truly open up and confess what drives her so much to help others and to seek equality where there is none. I felt she was much more compassionate towards others when she was tending to difficult situations when she qualified because she understood what it was to experience unforced loss. We follow Alice for many years from 1918 right up until the late 1930's and we see how life changes for her but always at the back of her mind is the little baby that she was made to give up and that sense of guilt and loss never does truly dissipate. How can she overcome these feelings? If ever? Should she seek what has been absent for so long? Or is she just better to keep everything under wraps as she has done for many years?

Running concurrently alongside the story of Alice is that of Irene. Ever since she can remember she has always felt like the misfit of her family, the outsider, the one who doesn't belong. So many questions run through her head even though she is still a teenager. Who is she really? Where did she come from and where does she belong? There was always a sense of mystery surrounding Irene and that she never could truly settle into her skin and be comfortable until she finally knows the answers to the questions that have tormented her and only continue to grow ever stronger as the years pass by. We follow her story from 1926 onwards and we see the family unit she has grown up in. Her family weren't cruel to her by any means although perhaps she favoured her father over her mother. There was a sense of dislocation, of being on the periphery and it has always nudged away at her conscience. When Irene meets a Miss. Juniper whilst walking on the beach this becomes the catalyst of change that she has so desperately needed. She feels a connection to this person and that with them she could possibly be understood. Will she garner the courage to find out the truth behind her heritage once and for all?

The Love Child is very much two separate stories for three quarters of the book until the strands begin to merge together in the last quarter. There are no real major surprises or twists and turns as the reader is fully aware of what has happened right from the outset. There is no major jaw dropping moment, instead this is an exploration of how two women's lives are changed and affected by the decision they had no say in. I enjoyed the last quarter very much as connections are made, crossed wires are unravelled and coincidences come to the fore. The book is very character driven and at times a bit slow but this is more than made up for when the last section is reached. All in all it was an enjoyable read , although perhaps not my favourite by this author, which showed the changing lives of women at the time. It was rich in historical detail and will have you rooting for a positive outcome.

This was an enthralling read, and I enjoyed every moment. With its dual timeline, I particularly liked the fact that the timelines didn’t alternate by chapter, but the story was told in larger slices and their convergence, as the years passed, was slowly led up to. Both threads are equally engaging, dealing with issues of identity and finding yourself, with a wholly authentic feel of the prevailing attitudes of the period: I found it particularly interesting that lingering Victorian standards weren’t relaxed enough to forgive the desperateness of war, forcing the separation that drives the story.

Alice’s experiences of training to be a doctor demonstrated an immense depth of research and insight, the recreation of her experiences quite fascinating to read – but the historical authenticity is balanced by a strong and determined character, so likeable and so well drawn, her past experiences slowly revealed. Irene too is fascinating – adopted and always something of an outsider, discovering the secrets of her past, searching for her birth mother and that sense of belonging.

The supporting characters are superbly drawn too. I particularly enjoyed Irene’s relationship with Tom and his artist mother, providing an interesting glimpse of a different lifestyle, with a particular focus as the story unfolds on the way the art is impacted by the artist’s state of mind. And I must mention both Alice’s and Irene’s (largely horrendous) mother figures – mother/daughter relationships are very much a theme, and they are both very much products of their time and upbringing, but goodness, how they complicate the story’s resolution. There’s a particularly strong sense of place to the book too, with Farthingsea particularly well portrayed.

The book’s resolution does rather hinge on a series of happy accidents and coincidences, but I can totally forgive that – this is fiction after all, and the twists, turns, and near misses work very well indeed as a dramatic device. They also make the book totally unputdownable – the equivalent of wanting to shout “she’s behind you” when the characters repeatedly look in the wrong direction entirely. I’ve always found Rachel Hore to be a quite wonderful storyteller, with a perfect touch in the emotional content, and her talent certainly shines through in this one.

Isn’t it lovely when a book delivers all that you hope it will? I really enjoyed this one – a “highly recommended” from me…

(Also copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

A lovely read, following the multi stranded tale of a women and the child she gave up for adoption after the First World War. It’s a gentle read and slow in places but this is necessary to explore the intricacies of the characters. Despite the multi story telling it’s easy to follow and keep track of the characters. An interesting depiction of women during the early 20th century. Really enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley.

This was a compelling, emotional but ultimately feel good book which I thoroughly enjoyed. The author has once again written a wonderful story which was beautifully written and has some quite serious themes running through it.

Firstly I always find it amazing to realise how different the attitudes toward women were less than a hundred years ago. The author has managed to portray all the emotion, heart break and confusion that I imagine giving a child away for adoption would entail. Being a mum myself I found the bits describing this quite hard to read at times and I found myself giving my kids lots of extra cuddles!

I thought this story had a lovely flow to it with the story unraveling at a good pace that seemed very realistic. The reader is given the chance to really get to know Alice and Irene as they discover what they want in life. The two stories came together brilliantly with perfect timing and I thought the ending was very uplifting.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Simon and Schuster for my copy of this book.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. Sadly not for me. Usually love all of Rachel Hore’s books but this felt more of a saga in style.

Alice falls in love with a young soldier who soon after dies on a wartime battlefield. Unknown to both, Alice has conceived his love child. Her father and step-mother are shocked by Alice’s gay abandon and recklessness; they sternly force her to give up her child for adoption. They cannot face the stigma of a child born out of wedlock, the knowing glances and the turned up noses are not for them. Alice would really like to keep her child but has no option but to sign the adoption papers, knowing her child will be given to a couple who can easily raise her child and that it will have an easier passage through life.
Philip and Edith are married but it seems that they cannot add to their family with the baby they so much want. They give up too easily and make an important decision. They secretly adopt a child and claim they are helping out distant cousins who cannot raise their child. They have taken it in as their own much longed for child. Funnily enough, as so often happens when couples are relaxed, a baby of their own making is soon on the way and their family of three become four. Their adopted child is fed the story that they have concocted together, but they know they are different and feel lonely and full of questions that always remain unanswered.
These are the two compelling threads of 'The Love Child'. Their stories continue through the years between the two world wars. Way ahead of the times, Alice trains as a doctor, becomes a GP and eventually marries and has another family. She never forgets her first child but neither her husband nor her children know anything about her firstborn. There never seemed to be the right time for Alice to tell the truth. This child has grown up, made the best of their life and is working hard for a living, but still always wonders why their mother had given them up for adoption. Life has not been as happy and as full of promise and opportunities as Alice had thought it inevitably would be for her child. Both Alice and her firstborn would like to meet each other but all searches have proved negative.
These two threads will only merge when secrets and lies of the past are divulged and even then they will need a sprinkle of good luck to bear fruit. They say it is a small world but in the thirties finding a lost parent or a lost child was not as easy to trace as it would be today. Adoption records were shrouded in secrecy and the adoption laws that have been created for our modern society was not then in existence. No one wants to be found out in a lie and some characters in this story will do anything so that mother and child never meet, come what may.
I enjoyed reading this novel and found the historical facts that drove the story very interesting. I didn’t particularly like many of the characters and I thought the story was a bit predictable, but I did enjoy the sweeping story and the fluency of the storytelling. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher published Simon & Schuster through my membership of NetGalley and I would like to thank them for my copy, sent out to me in return for an honest review. I have read several of Rachel’s other novels and always find them to be a good read.

I loved this book I have read I think nearly all of Rachel's books.This one is my favourite, from the fist line in book I knew I would enjoy it and read it in a couple of days thank you for opportunity to read.

An unusual story set after the War featuring adoption,female doctors and their struggle and a cuckoo of a child.. A good read.

This is a very thought provoking and atmospheric book told from the perspectives of Alice who was left with no choice but to give up her baby for adoption and from Irene the daughter she gave away. Told over twenty years we discover how Alice moves on in her life and how Irene struggles with her identity knowing she is adopted. I personally most enjoyed this as a representation of women and the battles they faced between the two world wars when this is set. This is another powerful story from Rachel Hore.