Thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
Have read a good few of this author's books and always good to read an excellent summer read wee bit slow and lacking a bit of oomph.

This book was your average read
The writing was good but did lack depth at times. More descriptions would have been nice.
An average book

I have read and enjoyed several books by Rachel Hore over the years and this was another winner.
I enjoy dual time frame novels and this did not disappoint.
The story focuses on the lives of Irene, adopted as a new born and Alice a young woman whose life was turned upside down when she loves and loses the man of her dreams in WW1 and gives birth to an illegitimate child.
I don't wish to give too much away to the extent that I spoil a lovely read, but both characters are strong willed, stubborn at times and yet interesting. I particularly enjoyed reading how Alice trained and became a doctor, at a time when women were not readily accepted into the profession.
Irene's' adopted mother is another noteworthy character. Her behaviour with regard to Irene is quite cold and harsh but with time the reader begins to feel some empathy for the life she had before marriage. I'm pleased to see a warmer relationship between the two is fueled by events over time!
As the story progresses I felt a greater part is given over to Irene and a large part of Alice's life was missed, which I felt slight disappointment over,hence 4 stars and not 5, but perhaps this was the intention of Hore, enabling the reader to get a sense of time moving on and lives changing when out of the picture.

A fabulous book, full of intricate twists and turns, cleverly woven stories with interesting characters. I could not put it down.

Having never read anything by Rachel Hore, I had no idea what to expect from this book, but loved this beautifully written historical novel set between the two World Wars. It tells the story of Alice, who gets pregnant and is forced to give her baby up for adoption - the book interweaves her story with that of her adopted daughter, Irene, as they both struggle to find their way in the world and ultimately find their way back to each other.

Hore does an excellent job of switching between the stories and providing the historical setting - Alice's challenges as she fights to become one of the first female doctors is particularly interesting, as is Irene's struggle to come to terms with her adoption in an era in which such things were hidden, as is her search for her birth mother which is something we almost take for granted as relatively straightforward these days. If their route to find each other feels a little contrived at times, the strength of Hore's storytelling means you find yourself swept up in the desire for them both to have their happy ending and keeps you turning the pages right until the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for an advance copy.of this book.

This is another great read from Rachel Hore that examines the social constraints people endured one hundred years ago, and the heartbreaking consequences of adhering to them.
In 1917, Alice find herself pregnant after falling in love with a soldier she treats while serving as a nurse during the First World War. After being forced to give up her daughter, she succeeds in becoming one of the few women to study medicine and quality as a doctor. Meanwhile, her adopted daughter Irene lives a loveless life, but makes friends with a mother and son who refuse to conform to society’s expectations.
The novel follows the separate lives that Alice and Irene forge through the next twenty years, and the relationships they develop along the way.
I really enjoyed this book despite the frustrations I felt when I could see how restrictive life was for women during this time, and the judgements made on them by others.

As the title suggests, this is a story of illegitimacy and adoption and it is set in the first half of the twentieth century. What makes it really interesting is the exploration of the social mores of the time. These include not only the stigma attached to having or being a child born out of wedlock, but but also the class system and the role of women, particularly women who had received an education and wanted to use it. There is fascinating detail about one of the characters' training and subsequent working life as a female doctor, a rare breed at that time. The central characters are well drawn and sympathetic and my only disappointment was that the ending felt rushed and not as thoroughly written as the rest of the novel.

This lovely story takes place in the period between the two world wars. Alice, a young adult from a well off family gives birth to a little girl. She's forced to give up the child for adoption.
Little Irene ends up in a family of good standing, but throughout her childhood she's the odd one out.
She survives, but the urge to belong drives her on a search for her birth mother. Will she find her?

Having read more books by this excellent writer, I knew this would be good. The story flows naturally, is beautifully written and set in gorgeous surroundings. I especially loved the looked upon bohemian community by the sea.
Eventually both women find what they need in life.
This is a feelgood novel, a quick yet serious read filled with indepth characters, which kept me engaged all the way.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC.

You can always depend on a good read with Rachel Hore and this was no exception. She weaves a good storyline around strong characters and adds in some unexpected twists to keep you guessing. The medical school was especially interesting as the two women medics battled to hold their own and there is an excellent sense of place with the story taking us from the early twentieth century to the Second World War. Adoption, childbirth and family life all play strong parts in an absorbing read.

Interweaving storylines of two generations of women from the same family that were separated at birth as they find their places in the world and ultimately finding their way back to each other.

Set in a time where having children out of wedlock was a mortal sin that lead to ruination of the entire family, this is where we find a heartbroken Alice. Nineteen, pregnant and single, following the death of her fiancé, Jack. Alice had been working in France as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse where she meets and falls in love with Jack. Unfortunately the war rips their futures away from them when Jack is killed in action, leaving Alice heartbroken as well as pregnant. At the insistence of her stepmother Alice is sent away to have the baby in private and adopted by a loving family.

Left adrift after the birth and subsequent loss of her daughter Alice is unsure what direction to take in life, wanting to jump straight back into nursing but forbidden by her parents she makes the decision to study medicine and become a doctor, A profession that is entirely male she struggles to forge a path for herself. Told from two opposing view points and dates it follows the lives of both mother and daughter, separated at birth but interwoven none the less.

Switching between Alice’s past and present as well as Irene’s story this is a multiple threaded story spanning years as the two women find their places in the world and ultimately finding their way back to each other. Even with the multiple switches the transitions are well polished and easy to follow as is the threads weaving everything together.

In Irene’s search for her birth mother Alice it reminds you how much you take the internet and things like Facebook search for granted. Their journeys are neither easy or plain sailing but entirely heartwarming. An easy read that delights and inspires and is one of her best books to date.

Prepare to be swept away as you follow Alice and Irene on their emotional journey of discovery in a predominantly male world.

The Love Child will be published on 05 Sep 2019 and is available for pre order now.

A massive thank you to the author Rachel Hore, publishers Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and independent review.

I've been a fan of Rachel Hore for years, great author. I always look forward to her new book. Fantastic storyline and characters

This is a historical novel set in France during the war. Alice is our protagonist. She falls in love with a soldier and gets pregnant. However, she's forced to give her up for adoption. The story is mainly about the difficulties for women in those times. It's very emotional and well written.
I felt for Alice and how she must have felt. The characterisation and historical setting was very good. I'd definitely read more from Rachel Hore.
Thanks a lot to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a truly stunning and beautiful book the love child is by Rachel Hore . A tale of love and loss, of struggling to find your place and ending with redemption and forgiveness. This wonderful story begins with Alice who always fascinated by medicine at only 19 lies about her age and is nursing in France during ww1. There she meets jack an injured soldier whom after nursing back to health, Alice falls deeply in love with. Certain that they will marry after the war has ended Alice and Jack give in to temptation. Unfortunately Jack is killed on his return to the frontline and Alice finds herself alone and pregnant, her family won’t support her and her stepmother ships her off to a mother and baby home where she is forced to give up her baby girl.
The story then splits into two parts. We follow Alice determined to make something of her life after all she’s been through and become one of the first female doctors. Her struggles to achieve this and ultimately to find happiness again.
But we also follow Irene the baby girl Alice gave up.
Adored by her adoptive father but kept at arms length by a mother who goes on to have her own biological child whom she clearly favours, Irene struggles to fit in and can’t help wondering why.
After she accidentally discovers the story of her arrival into her family isn’t quiet what her parents made out , Irene seeks solace with local oddity artist and single mother Miss Juniper and her son Tom who provide Irene with the love and friendship her family doesn’t supply. As Irene grows so does her desire and curiosity to find her birth mother.
I absolutely adored this story and couldn’t put it down desperate to discover how it ends. It’s a beautiful page turner book that gives you an historical insight into life for woman after the war. I would highly recommend seeking this lovely story out. It would definitely make a great addition to any book lovers to be read list.

This book was phenomenal. I love that the author is always very passionate about her historical settings and her author’s note closing the story proves it.

As a reader, you feel sympathy for both Alice and Irene, in that both characters have a huge hole and longing in their lives they they can’t fill. I loved how their biography and back stories crossed over and could tell how they were related.

The ending was so beautiful and I am really glad we found out more about Jack.

The setting of medicine for Alice was really interesting and painful to read of discrimination for someone so talented to have so work so hard to fulfil her dreams although this also explained her passion with children and mothers who didn’t end up in his position,

Irene’s relationships were sometimes hard to read but when she met Miss Juniper on the beach, her direction and interests changed in such a positive way that Irene’s character deepened.

I would read this again and again.

Alice is working as a nurse in France during the war and falls in love with a soldier.
She becomes pregnant and is forced to give up her baby girl for adoption.
This is a historical novel that shows the attitude towards women at that time and the struggle they had to achieve a better life.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Child, Rachel Hore

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:Women's Fiction

Moan: women's fiction – why alienate potential readers? Men write books enjoyed by women and men alike, and they read the same.

Anyway, having enjoyed many of Rachel's stories before I knew I'd love this. Its an intense read, very emotional at times, and shows just how much ladies struggled back in the early-mid twentieth century.

Alice is nursing in WW1, at time when no-one knew if they'd see tomorrow, and many seized the chances they had. She was nursing Jack, they fell in love and like many, intended to marry after the war. Sadly for Jack there was no After, and Alice was left pregnant and unmarried, a scandal in her – and most – family.
Shipped off by her stepmother she was made to have Stella adopted. After all, though ostensibly she had a choice, loved her baby, wanted to keep this small piece of Jack, at 19 with no parental support for that course of action, she wouldn't have been able to make a life for the two of them. Hobson's choice as they say.
Stella becomes Irene, adored by her dad but never quite feeling wanted in the family, when it was clear that her mum favored her biological child Clayton. Its a lonely childhood, kids can be cruel, and she finds respite with Tom and his mum, a village oddity too, as an artist and unmarried mother.
Fast forward to the future, Alice becomes a devoted doctor, married and has children, but all the while there's the secret of Irene. Irene is grown, works in an art gallery, loves Tom but he's oblivious, as men often are ;-). She finds things that make her question the story of her birth and starts to search for her mum, someone kept secret so far. As the stories of Alice and Irene begin to connect those secrets start to come to light.

Its a lovely story, ends well, though for a while I feared Alice was in for yet more heartbreak. Its ever the way, men are expected, encouraged even to “sow their oats” but women must remain chaste, and if caught, the blame lays unfairly on them.

Stars: Four, its a lovely story, very real feeling, had me emotional at times, feeling as if I was there back in time with the characters.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

Alice Copeman is only nineteen and having lied about her age to join the VADs, is nursing in France towards the end of the First World War. She discovers soon after the death of the man she loves that she is pregnant with his child and has to return home to deal with the shame and disappointment of her father and step-mother. She's made to give up her baby girl for adoption and believing she has no other future, studies to become a doctor.

Irene always believed she was the adopted child of her father's cousins who died in an accident, but as she grows up with love from her father, but little from her mother, she's constantly aware that she's in her brother's shadow. Unlike her, her brother Clayton isn't adopted. She's a lonely child, but makes friends with Tom, a boy at her school who defends her from bullies. She soon discovers that Tom's life is rather unusual and he lives with his artist mother in a rundown area of the town.

This book covers the period between the two world wars and tells Alice's and Irene's stories as they both find their way in their own worlds. I've enjoyed many of Rachel Hore's books and this one didn't disappoint me. I thoroughly enjoyed following both women and the secondary characters' stories in this book and would happily recommend The Love Child.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Simon and Schuster for my arc copy.

Having read previous books by Rachel Hore, I was looking forward to reading The Love Child and it doesn’t disappoint.

Set between 1917 and the second world war, the story follows unmarried Alice who is forced to give up her baby for adoption. Interweaving with Alice’s story is the story of Irene, who was adopted by Edith and Philip and is on a mission to understand why she feels like an outsider within her own family.

Another good book by Rachel Hore with an interesting storyline. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

This was my first time reading a book by Rachel Hore and I have to say I really enjoyed The Love Child. The Love Child tells the story of Alice, a young woman forced give up her baby for adoption and Irene the adopted child. It is told over a twenty year time period from the parallel experiences of Irene and Alice. I look forward to reading more from Hore in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC