by Genevieve Graham
4 Stars
The historical fiction, The Forgotten Home Child, written by Genevieve Graham, was a shocking but an astonishing novel. This story is based on Canadian history, a history us Canadians shouldn't be proud of. The main character Winny, also known as Winnifred Ellis, at the age of 15 Winny is absolutely done with her mother and her abusive stepfather. She takes matters into her hands and decides to run away, and she falls in a group with other homeless children. Mary, Jack, Cecil and Edward, all 5 together, find ways to live and at the same time also have fun in Liverpool, England. When the group got caught stealing, the group splits apart, Mary and Winny are sent to Dr. Barnardo's Barkingside Home for Girls, an orphanage for girls.
The girls soon learn that girls and boys get to go to Canada, where better families are waiting for them. But what they don't know is that apart of those boys they get to go to, they will see Jack, Cecil and Edward, but unfortunately it's not a reunion, they eventually all get split apart. Except for the boys, they are accepted to work for a guy. The way Genevieve Graham wrote this novel it's as if all the emotion that's happening in the book, you also feel too. Which is absolutely crazy to me how she could make readers feel like that. Either way, what happened to them and other home children are absolutely terrible. Although some home children got to go into better homes that treated them like an actual human being, while others went into homes that got treated absolutely horribly. I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 12 because of the mature topics that unfold within this novel. Nevertheless, I rate this book a 4/5!
Reviewed by Hoda D.
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