Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and author Shirley Dickson for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.
In the universe of Historical Fiction, the vast majority seem to take place during World War II. It’s hard to find a story anymore that has a unique perspective. However, similar stories can also bring about different depths to the same subject.
In The Orphan With No Name by Shirley Dickson, the author covers the topic of orphans during the second World War while also managing to take on society’s norms at the same time.
Polly lives in South Shields, England during the war. A factory bombing has already killed her mother, and her father, injured during an earlier campaign, is trying his best. One night the air raid sirens howl, and he sends Polly on ahead of him to the shelter.
A little girl awakens in a hospital with a head injury and no memory of who she is. The nuns giver her the name Rosie after her rosy cheeks. She has injuries that will heal, but the biggest problem is that she has no memory of who she is. When no one comes looking for her and she has to leave the hospital, she is sent to an orphanage in Scotland.
At first, Rosie feels isolated from the other orphans. Couple that with a headmistress who is often cruel, and it’s not a pleasant experience for a child who has already lost so much. As time goes on, Rosie and Alice become friends. Alice was left on the doorstep of the orphanage when it was in South Shields and has been there all her life.
The story of an orphanage with an evil headmistress is a bit of a cliché. However, the author manages to comment on the society that created this situation. It’s important to remember in this day and age what it was like before women had access to birth control and men were able to love ‘em and leave ‘em. The reader knows Alice’s background as the book goes on, but she doesn’t. Alice only knows the woman who was supposed to love her and make her feel safe left her on the doorsteps of the orphanage. She doesn’t understand that and it makes her angry. She also has a hard time getting close to anyone. Much like adoptees, she keeps waiting for the people she cares about to abandon her; to prove to her the idea that’s she’s so unlovable even the woman who gave birth to her didn’t want her.
The author gets this right not just with Alice, but with all of the children at the orphanage. They want to have hope, but it’s hard when the world seems to reject them. It’s only when the American soldiers, away from home at a nearby air base, want to shower them with affection that they seem to come out of their shells. Fortunately, that is also the time when the headmistress has an accident, and one of the other teachers takes over.
Miriam Balfour has her own reasons for sticking close to the orphans, and has been afraid to go against the evil headmistress and lose her job. Once she takes over, though, things change. Instead of focusing on discipline and order, Miriam allows the children to express their curiosity and prepare them for the outside world. Her life hasn’t been easy up until this point, and when she finds herself falling for one of the American airmen, she wonders if the future can be any different.
I enjoyed this story not only as World War II fiction but also as an adoptee who has experienced many of the same feelings the orphans go through. Our society created a scenario where children were often unwanted and parents who couldn’t or wouldn’t take care of them sent them to orphanages. In some cases, women wanted to mother their children even after the father left, but would be shunned by society as a single parent, and the child treated poorly as well. We’ve changed in the decades since then, but some people would like to take us back to that time. All children deserve to be wanted and loved.
In The Orphan With No Name is a good book. If you’re looking for a World War II thriller, this isn’t it. This covers a part of our society that was mostly people on the fringes. They create their own world that gets better and works for them, but it’s also one we should be worried about coming back.
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Categories: Book Reviews
Thank you for reviewing this book, Patti, and for sharing some of your story. This is an important perspective that needs to be given more air time, both for the sake of abandonned children and vulnerable adults, as well as for the sake of all of our society. When we allow the mistreatment or neglect of any member of our society, it comes back to bite us years later, as we are seeing now.
Oh yes. And I think it’s only going to get worse here on this side of the Atlantic.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you on that one, Patti. The federal judiciary is well and truely FuBarred, for the next four or five decades, at least, and with the remaining federal systems under malicious control for at least the next two years, I doubt that there is much that anyone can do to prevent things from getting worse, at least in the short term. But, as V. President Harris said, we do have to keep working to make life better for everyone, at least to the greatest extent possible.