Book Review 19 – Coffins & Confetti by Ruth Graham

I kindly accepted an offer to review Ruth Graham latest book Coffins & Confetti.  This is Ruth’s second book to date.

The book was released on 25^th June 2023 and is available with an online retailer and the purchase links are below. Congratulations to Ruth for another fascinating book.

Book Description

Coffins & Confetti (A Celebrant’s Memoir of Life, Loss & Love)

Following the success of her first book, A Thousand Goodbyes, writer Ruth Graham invites us to join her on the next part of her journey as an Independent Civil Celebrant. She honestly believed she’d seen it all – apparently not!

Once again, we’re exposed to the best, worst (and funniest) examples of human behaviour in Ruth’s latest memoir,

Coffins & Confetti, but this time the tears and laughter are set again1t the poignant backdrop of the writer’s own search for true and lasting love.

Written in conversational style with trademark humour, Coffins & Confetti takes the reader on a journey encompassing the darkest corners of despair, peppered with some of the funniest true-life stories you will ever hear.

A letter to life, a memo to mortality but above all, a testament to tenacity, Coffins & Confetti is a book which oozes humanity and hope with the message that if you hang on in there long enough, things will always turn around …

About The Author – Ruth Graham

With an eclectic background in music; acting; presenting; comedy; journalism; writing; counselling and teaching (to name just a few careers), Ruth Graham could never have guessed all the skills she’d acquired would be needed for her final role – that of funeral and wedding celebrant.

With no two days ever the same, Ruth travels all over the West Midlands to meet grieving families or happy couples, in preparation for the happiest and saddest days of peoples’ lives.

It’s a huge role, with so many expectations attached – and a lot of pressure to get things right. But as Ruth says, it’s also a huge privilege to be able to bring comfort in times of sadness, or to create something really beautiful and unique for a couple lucky enough to have found their match.

That said, in the great improv show of life, everything doesn’t always run smoothly because it involves humans at their best and worst. The result is endless amounts of material and two books to her credit so far.

The first one ‘A Thousand Goodbyes’ (The Surprising Life Of A Funeral Celebrant) garnered fantastic reviews: Hilarious Un-Putdownable /Moving/Touching/Must Read) from bloggers, industry professionals and the general public.

Ruth is hoping the same for Coffins & Confetti but either way she intends to keep working as a celebrant knowing she’s making a real difference to others’ lives. 

Book Review

I am always intrigued by people’s memoirs, but I wasn’t sure what to expect with a book title called Coffins and Confetti.

Ruth discusses her role as a celebrant and gives some great descriptions of her job role, which tickle me. She goes into greater detail of her incredible life and career choices.

Ruth gives you an insight into the life of a celebrant, the side that people do not see or even hear about in the real world. The book provides real life accounts of people she has dealt with in her day-to-day duties. Unbelievable stories!

There is a couple of tear-jerking moments with her mother, but you must read it to believe it. Ruth reflects on her responsibility as a stepmother to her two stepsons.

Ruth is very informative about the wedding and funeral process, things that you don’t necessarily know but could be useful during your lifetime.

The book was an absolute joy to read, and I will have no qualms recommending the book to others. I will be passing the book onto another celebrant tomorrow.

Purchase Links

Ruth Graham Book Review Tour & Social Media Information

Instagram: @ https://www.instagram.com/Celebrantruthg/

Twitter         @CelebrantRuthG

Queuing for the Queen by Sweta Rana

Queuing for the Queen

‘Beautifully sensitive, quietly reflective, this absorbing tale about a group of strangers brought together following the death of Queen Elizabeth II is an absolute triumph.’ LoveReading debut of the month

One queue. 250,000 people. Twenty-four life-changing hours.

A young boy wearing a cereal box crown, impatiently dragging his mother behind him.

A friendly man in a khaki raincoat, talking about his beloved Leeds United to anyone who will listen.

An elderly woman who has lived her life alongside the Queen, and is just hoping she’ll make it to the end of the queue to say goodbye.

And among them, a British Indian mother and daughter, driven apart by their differences, embarking on a pilgrimage which neither of them yet know will change their lives forever.

Full of secrets and surprises, this uplifting novel celebrates not only the remarkable woman who defined an era and a country, but also the diverse and unique people she served for so long.

Purchase Links

Kobo – the ebook is currently only 99p

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/queuing-for-the-queen

Social Media Links – https://twitter.com/s_rana_

https://swetarana.com/

Book Review 18 – The Orphranage Girl’s Come Home by Mary Wood

I kindly accepted an offer to review Mary Wood’s latest book The Orphanage Girls Come Home.  This historical fiction is the 3rd book in the orphanage girl’s series.

The book was released on 25^th May 2023 and is available in most supermarkets, bookstores, and online retailers. Congratulations to Mary for another remarkable book.

Book Description

London, 1910.

When Amy’s chosen as part of a programme to resettle displaced children in Canada, her life changes tack. Her great sadness is having to say goodbye to Ruth and Ellen, the friends who became family to her during the dark days at the orphanage. As she steps on board the ship to Montreal, the promise of a new life lies ahead. But during the long crossing, Amy discovers a terrifying secret.

Canada, 1916.

As the years pass, Amy’s Canadian experience is far from the life she imagined. She always kept Ruth’s address to hand – longing to return to London and reunite with her dear friends. With the world at war, it seems an impossible dream. Separated by oceans, will Amy the orphanage girl ever come home?

About The Author – Mary Wood

Born the thirteenth child of fifteen to a middle-class mother and an East End barrow boy, Mary Wood’s childhood was a mixture of love and poverty. Throughout her life Mary has held various posts in office roles, working in the probation services, and brought up her four children and numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

An avid reader, she first put pen to paper in 1989 while nursing her mother through her last months, but didn’t become successful until she began self-publishing her novels in 2011

Her novels include All I Have to Give, An Unbreakable Bond, In Their Mother’s Footsteps and the Breckton novels.

Book Review

This is the final book of the trilogy of The Orphanage Girls series, and it was a delightful book. Mary is very skilled in touching all your emotions and as well as creating characters that almost feel real.    

The book emphasises on each of the girl’s lives, Ruth, Ellen and Amy.  Finally, the girls are reunited in this book, however each of them has travelled a different path, which you learn more about in the book. 

Amy is in Canada and her life has been challenged in so many ways. Eventually she does find happiness but again it’s seeded with sadness. Deep down her heart is still yearning for her orphanage friends Ruth & Ellen. She does write a letter to her friends, yet there’s a story associated with the letter in the book, and I don’t want to spoil the story.  

Ellen and Ruth are now both living in London supporting each other including Ruth’s son Archie. If you had read the previous books, you will have learned that Ruth lost Adrian prior to their wedding, therefore she’s single but does she find love again, I wonder. 

Ellen in the previous book had formed a beautiful relationship with the Doctor, Bernard. The relationship just flourishes, and you will see there is a few hiccups along the way, but they are very much in sync with each other.  

All the girls do locate their mothers, however there is fear & crime associated with both of their mothers, but the outcome is heart-warming. Previous characters return in this book including Robbie and Abe who live the flat below the girls. They undergo horrific situation, but the outcome is sprinkled with happiness. 

It’s a shame this is the last book in the trilogy but I’m looking forward to the next trilogy, Guernsey Girls. This was another wonderful book and I would most definitely recommend the trilogy series of Orphanage Girls by Mary Woods. Such a gifted writer.  

Mary’s Random Things Tours Book Review Tour & Social Media Information

Mary Wood’s Book Series

1. Breckton
2. Generation War
3. Girls Who Went to War
4. Jam Factory Girls
5. Orphanage Girls

Blog Review 17 – The Stepney Girl’s Secret

I kindly accepted an offer to review Jean Fullerton latest book The Stepney Girl’s Secret This historical fictional book is the author’s fourth book series.

The book was released on 4th May 2023 and is available in Amazon the online retailers both in U.K. & USA. Congratulations to Jean for another remarkable book.

Book Description

The Stepney Girl’s Secret

A brand new heart-warming and atmospheric saga fiction series from Jean Fullerton, charting the loves, hopes and heartaches of three women who move a rectory in Stepney, East London during WW2.

East London, 1940. At the outbreak of war, hopeless romantic Prue Carmichael and her sister must leave their rural parish behind when their father is posted to a church in Stepney. To Prue, the blitz-ravaged streets of London seem an unlikely place for love to bloom – until a chance encounter throws rakish engineer Jack Quinn into her path. But as their connection deepens, his troubled past begins to emerge, and Prue realises Jack has secrets to hide . . .

Luckily, in between starting work at a railway yard and helping her mother house Jewish refugees in the parish, Prue manages to keep her mind off love and on the wartime effort. However, Jack isn’t the only man who’s fallen for Prue – and when he is recruited into Churchill’s secret underground army, an unexpected suitor offers a fresh distraction.

As air raid sirens sound and the Battle of Britain rages overhead, Prue Carmichael must face some of the greatest horrors of her young life. Meanwhile, she is waging her own battle – the fight between her heart and her head . . .

Amidst the ruins of war, will Prue and Jack’s love find a way to flourish?

About The Author – Jean Fullerton

Born and bred in East London Jean was a District Nurse by trade and ended her thirty-year career in health care as a senior lecture in Health and Nursing Studies in London Southbank University.

She had published twenty sagas all set in East London with both Orion and Atlantic the most recent of which is the highly successful Ration Book series. She has also recently released her autobiography A Child of the East End.

Book Review

I’m a huge fan of Jean’s books and she never fails in providing a beautifully written book.  

She always catches the period she’s written about, to the point you feel like it’s almost real. A very well researched author who’s provided over 500 pages of enjoyment. 

The book is written on the struggles of life in the 1940’s and the book is centred around Prudence Carmichael known as Prue. 

Prue the youngest child to a rector has moved from the countryside to the east end of London.  Prue is actively involved in working and supporting St Winifred’s parishioners including offering her parents home to Jewish refugees. 

In achieving all of the above she falls in love with Jack Quinn but not all is smooth along the way. Will her and Jack become a couple? 

I would certainly recommend this book.

Jean’s, Rachel Random Resources Book Review Tour & Social Media Information

Website: http://jeanfullerton.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jean-Fullerton-202631736433230/?ref=bookmarks

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JeanFullerton_

Jean’s Other Book Series

East End Nolan Family – 4 Books in Series

Nurse Mille and Connie – 6 Books in the Series

East End Ration Book – 8 books in the Series

The Stepney Girls – 1 Book to Date

Competition

Giveaway to Win 5 x Copies of A Stepney Girl’s Secret (Open to UK & Ireland Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK & Ireland entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Book Review 16 – Mahattan Ember by Olive Collins

16I kindly accepted an offer to review Olive Collins latest book Manhattan Ember. This historical fictional book is the author’s 4^th book to date.

The book was released on 28^th Feb 2023 and is available in most supermarkets, bookstores, and online retailers. Congratulations to Olive for another remarkable book.

Book Description

Roisin Gallagher has had many names and nicknames. As a child, she was known as The Orphan Gallagher. She was married twice and took each of her husband’s names and when her second husband disappeared, she was known as the Widow Kilbane. Although a wealthy woman with a unique story of her own, it was the disappearance of her husband that defined her. Ger Kilbane was akin to a myth, a man who reportedly ‘fell off the face of the earth.’

Marguerite Kelley’s childhood home was dominated by the disappearance of her uncle who, according to some, ‘vanished into thin air.’ In November 1905, she is the first to hear about the discovery of a skeleton tucked under the eaves of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Manhattan. Suspecting the remains are that of her uncle who worked on its the construction, she hopes it will solve a mystery that has overshadowed her family for a quarter of a century.

Patrick Kilbane came to New York with aspirations as great as the ship on which he sailed. He and his brothers were fleeing more than poverty and oppression. Patrick was happy to leave his family’s sordid history at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In New York, Patrick found success as a businessman and Alderman in Five Points. When his daughter, Marguerite greets him with the news of the discovery of a skeleton in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he realizes that it is as impossible to flee from his family’s past as it is for a man to ‘vanish into thin air.’

About The Author – Olive Collins

Olive Collins is an award winning and bestselling historical fiction writer. Olive grew up in the Irish midlands. She has travelled extensively and lived abroad for years before returning to her roots in Thurles, County Tipperary. Her novels have remained high in the charts, received critical acclaim and her stories resonate with book clubs around the world.

If you’d like to read more, please feel free to sign up to her newsletter for updates, new releases, background stories and much more https://olivecollins.com/

Book Review

The book is about Irish immigrants travelling and settling in New York, USA. The passengers of the ship developed friendships and in some cases relationships but not all the passengers are what they seem.  The author goes into greater detail about Roison & Una Gallagher, Maisy O’Brien, Fiona Finnegan & Tadhg O’Siodhachin and Kilbane brothers, Patrick, Raymond, and Ger.

During the crossing there is sickness, death, miracle cures, entertainment, interactions, jealously and fighting, however the dramas don’t end on the ship. You will learn how the immigrants are settling in New York; however, things will change for all the immigrants and not always in a positive light. The immigrates are either content with their new life or and what it has to offer or aim for more. Along the way there are births, marriages, and deaths, however if things were only that simple. St Patricks Cathedral is a key landmark shared by all the immigrants, which creates happiness for some and sadness for others.

The book is a thoroughly interesting and an addictive read. The author goes into specifics on each of the immigrants and how their lives are intertwined throughout the book. The book is very relatable in some ways as a child of Irish immigrants and as an adult living in another continent with Irish immigrants, hence very factual. I will be sourcing Olive’s other books to read and would recommend this book to historical friction to readers, I would give this book 5 stars.

Olive’s, Random Things Tours Book Review Tour & Social Media Information

Olive Collins Other Books 

1. The Memory of Music
2. The Tide Between Us
3. The Weaver’s Legacy

Book Review 15 – Stay Daughter by Yasmine Azad

I kindly accepted an offer to review Yasmine Azad book Stay, Daughter.  As I was brought up in a multi cultured city in the UK and I’m always willing to learn about other people’s cultures and life experiences.

The book was released on 30^th March 2023 and is available in most bookstores and online retailers now. Congratulations to Yasmin for a very informative book.

Book Description

Suffused with love, humour, and compassion, Stay, Daughter gives an intimate glimpse into a traditional Muslim community that must balance the rules of Islamic orthodoxy with the freedoms and innovations of the Westernized modern world. The memoir follows the history of a community in Sri Lanka that, in the late 19th century, breaks with the traditions of the time to give girls a secular education and permission to go out of their homes. Before long, such independence and exposure to foreign ideas brings heartbreak to many families as their daughters move away from the customs that had once been the norm. Although the book tells the story of a single family, it draws on a situation that almost all Muslims struggle with as they negotiate a changing world where women are no longer who they used to be.

About The Author – Yasmine Azad

Yasmin Azad was among the first group of girls in her Muslim community in Sri Lanka to go away to university. Soon after obtaining a degree in English from the University of Ceylon, she moved to the United States, where she worked for over two decades as a mental health counsellor. Stay, Daughter draws on her experiences growing up in a close-knit, conservative society which, when it gave more independence to women, had to deal with the challenge of reconciling the rules of Islamic orthodoxy with the freedoms and innovations of the modern world.

Book Review

A beautiful written memoir of a young Muslim girl in Ceylon now known as a Sri Lanka. Yasmine is able not only to explain the roles of family members in an Islamic world, but you also get a better understanding of her culture.

I am sure that Yasmine’s upbringing was unique as her father was very conservative and allowed her to enjoy experiences of the western world. You will read about Yasmine’s life experiences in greater detail and for instance being taught by Irish catholic nuns and riding a bicycle. I don’t believe anyone has a real appreciation for how confusing it could of be for a young girl living in a Muslin world but exposed to Catholicism. Yasmine didn’t have the luxury of shelves filled with books or western clothes unlike Penny.

Hopefully after reading Yasmine memoirs, it will give the western world a better understanding of Muslim life and how people in places like the UK, are blessed in so many ways. I am sure Yasmine is thankful every day for her father’s encouragement of education including higher education.

Yasmine’s book was very informative book and very worthy of a read, I would encourage you all to read this memoir and become more knowledgeable of a girl living a Muslim life.

Yasmine’s, Random Things Tour & Social Media Information

Book Review 14 -The Translator by Harriet Crawley

I kindly accepted an offer to review Harriet Crawley’s latest book The Translator.  I’m always intrigued by M16 and the Secret Intelligence Service, so I was looking forward to this thriller.

The book was released on 23^rd March 2023 and is available in most bookstores and online retailers now. Congratulations to Harriet for a captivating book.

Book Description

Moscow, September 2017. Clive Franklin, a Russian language expert in the Foreign Office, is summoned unexpectedly to the city to act as translator for the British Prime Minister. His life is turned on its head when, after more than a decade, he discovers that his former lover, Marina Volina, is now the interpreter to the Russian President. At the embassy, Clive learns of a Russian plotto cut the undersea cables linking the US to the UK which would paralyse communications andcollapse the Western economy. Marina stuns Clive with the news that she’s ready to help stop theattack, betraying her country for a new identity and a new life.

About The Author – Harriet Crawley

Harriet Crawley has been a journalist, writer, and art dealer, worked in televisionand radio and stood for the Westminster and European Parliaments. For almost twenty years Harriet had one foot in Moscow where she launched a technical publishing business for a Russian oil and gas company. She speaks five languages, and this is her fifth book.

Book Review

The book is about a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Russian Translator, Clive Franklin. Clive is multilingual and has been summoned by the Prime Minster to assist on a trip to Russia. Clive’s Russian is very authentic as he studied at Cambridge and lived in Moscow for a couple years as diplomat for FCO at the British Embassy. Alongside Clive on the trip was Sir Martin Hyde, once MI6 but now special advisor on Russian affairs wanted Clive to keep his ears open as he felt that something was about to happen involving the Russian Prime Mister ex KGB.

Clive was divorced; however, he was in love with Marina, a Russian translator prior to his marriage.  He kept an interest about Marina’s life and knew that her husband had died of cancer some years earlier. He wasn’t sure if he was going to see her again but they did finally meet during his business trip, however he didn’t realize she was the translator for the Russian Prime Minster. Clive and Marina’s relationship rekindles, and it soon becomes obvious that their love for each never dies. Marina will open up on why she never took the relationship further at the time and the fireworks start again.

During the trip, Clive realises as previously warned by Hyde that the FSB follow his every movement.  Therefore, he must be very careful when meeting up with Marina as the General Varlaechka is very inquisitive about her and him and they can’t be seen together unless on official business. Marina has an axe to grind with General Varlachka, which you will learn in more depth in the book.

As the book evolves Marina, provides intelligence to the British via Clive. This intelligence is of importance to the British but also part of sweet revenge against the General. The information takes a while for Marina to gather but in the end the British prevent the Russians fully succeeding in their mission.

Marina gets her revenge on the General as she’s always one step ahead. The ending with Clive is maybe predictable and very pleasing if you are a romantic like me, however how the author concludes the ending of the book, is sheer brilliance. I would thoroughly recommend this book and give this book 5-star review.

Harriet’s, Random Things Tour & Social Media Information

Some of Harriet’s other Book Titles

1. The Goddaughter
2. Degree of Defiance

Book Review 13 – Where the River Flows by Romola Farr

I kindly accepted an offer to review Romola Farr latest book Where the Water Flows.  This fictional book is the 3rd book in the Hawksmead series.

The book was released on 2^nd Jan 2023 and is available on Amazon the online retailer in the UK and US. Congratulations to Romola for an incredible book.

Book Description

Romola Farr first trod the boards on the West End stage aged sixteen and continued to work for the next eighteen years in theatre, TV and film – and as a photographic model. A trip to Hollywood led to the sale of her first screenplay and a successful change of direction as a screenwriter and playwright. Bridge To Eternity was her debut novel, and Breaking through the Shadows and Where the Water Flows are standalone sequels. All three novels are set in the fictional town of Hawksmead.

About The Author – Romola Farr

It had been a long, hot summer followed by a very wet autumn. The River Hawk, lying to the north of a former little mill town, was in full flood but nobody imagined the catastrophe that lay ahead. Not the elderly couple who created a beautiful memorial garden that would become a lake. Not the opera singer who found a friend who would risk all to save her life. Not the owner of Wax Polish who would battle to rescue her first love. Not the new parents who would be overwhelmed and torn apart. And certainly not two drama students whose lives would change forever.

Book Review

The book is about a mill town and its imaginary characters. The town has a famous local drama school, a pub, a beauty shop, a tea shop, methodist church and an estate agency. The author has the excellent skill of developing a book that you almost feel like you’re watching a tv drama. The book covers social culture issues, which every reader should be able to associate with.

Joel a student at the local famous drama school who is infatuated with a fellow American student Cadence. Joel was meant to stay with his godmother Eleanor but unfortunately, she is very ill with covid 19 and is in isolating above the teashop. She has other health issues, which you will discover as you read the book. Therefore, Joel is staying with an elderly couple Malcolm & Audrey, a wonderful and very endearing couple. Eleanor has developed a relationship with Ron or should I say Frank. Ron is a mystery one, however he’s about to undergo the greatest gesture a human can give.

Cadence is staying at the pub with Heather and Tom, whilst she attends the local drama school. She has part time work in the beauty shop and the estate agency. The owner of the beauty shop is Magdalena and she’s in a relationship with Trevor the owner of the estate agency. Subsequently she’s in love with Christina, Lady Cornfield who is married to Abel, Lord Cornfield. Christina was previously married to Gary their employee, an ex-policeman. Lord Cornfield has a loveable bullmastiff dog called Hector and the couple are about to have a baby girl called Rowena.

The author has created so much content in the book, covering health issues, to relationships, tragedy and disasters. The book was both engaging and addictive, it’s certainly an author I won’t hesitate in purchasing any future books.

Romola and Rachel’s Random Resources Book Tour & Social Media Information

Tweets by RomolaFarr

Hawkmead Book Series

1. Bridge To Eternity
2. Breaking Through the Shadows
3. Where the Water Flows

Book Review 12 – River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

I had accepted an offer to review Eleanor Shearer book River Sing Me Home. This historical novel is the 1st book of the inspiring and thought provoking author.

The book was released on 19th Jan 2023 and is available in most supermarkets, bookstores, and online retailers. Congratulations to Eleanor for an incredible book.

Book Description

Powerful, moving and redemptive, RIVER SING ME HOME tells of a mother’s desperate search to find her stolen children and her freedom. We whisper the names of the ones we love like the words of a song. That was the taste of freedom to us, those names on our lips. Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. These are the names of her children. The five who survived, only to be sold to other plantations. The faces Rachel cannot forget.

It’s 1834, and the law says her people are now free. But for Rachel freedom means finding her children, even if the truth is more than she can bear. With fear snapping at her heels, Rachel keeps moving. From sunrise to sunset, through the cane fields of Barbados to the forests of British Guiana and on to Trinidad, to the dangerous river and the open sea. Only once she knows their stories can she rest. Only then can she finally find home.

About The Author – Eleanor Shearer

ELEANOR SHEARER is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea. For her Master’s degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, Eleanor studied the legacy of slavery and the case for reparations, and her fieldwork in St. Lucia and Barbados helped inspire her

Book Review

The book tells a story of life of a very brave courageous woman searching for her children. A broken family, who had been separated due to slavery. The family are living on different islands and are oceans apart. In some cases, some of the family members are living on the same island, and not to far apart but very unaware of their closeness.

Rachel was a mother of many, however you’ll learn the circumstances of each child in the novel. Each child has a story, so there is sadness reliving the events, nevertheless there may some happiness. Rachel undertakes some work for both her shelter and her food. This contributes with the her search in finding family members.

Along the way, she establishes some friendships, who will assist her in searching for her children. On the other hand, there is a few people who are not so pleasant along the way instilling some fear.

Rachel shows incredible strength and an appetite for being very resourceful throughout the novel. She travels the seas, works very hard and is inquisitive in her search.

The novel also gives the reader an appreciation of how slavery impacts family members. It also and enlightens your knowledge of living in such times. A very enjoyable and informative novel.

Eleanor’s Random Things Tour & Social Media Information

Book Review 11 – The Orphanage Girls Reunited

I kindly accepted an offer to review Mary Wood’s latest book The Orphanage Girls Reunited.  This historical fiction is the 2^nd book in the orphanage girl’s series.

The book was released on 8^th Dec 2022 and is available in most supermarkets, bookstores, and online retailers. Congratulations to Mary for another incredible book.

Book Description

Abandoned by her father for the second time, left scarred from the orphanage, Ellen finally finds happiness and hope – reunited with her long-lost gran. But it cannot compensate for being torn apart from her beloved friends Ruth and Amy. When a devastating encounter leaves Ellen broken and desperate, she is forced to fight her past demons. Ruth has found peace, building a new life as an actress surrounded by new friends. But still, she longs to be with Ellen and Amy after everything they endured together in the orphanage. Amy was shipped to Canada with hundreds of other orphans, what hope have they of finding her? One wish comes true when Ruth’s acting career leads her to Ellen. No sooner has the dust settled, war is on the horizon. Friendship locked them into each other’s her hearts forever

About The Author – Mary Wood

Born the thirteenth child of fifteen to a middle-class mother and an East End barrow boy, Mary Wood’s childhood was a mixture of love and poverty. Throughout her life Mary has held various posts in office roles, working in the probation services, and brought up her four children and numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

An avid reader, she first put pen to paper in 1989 while nursing her mother through her last months, but didn’t become successful until she began self-publishing her novels in 2011

Book Review

The book continues the life of Ellen, now a teenager is abandoned by her father again. She goes to live with her grandmother and their relationship develops throughout the book. Along the way, she is home schooled by Adrian preparing for her to go to medical school.

You learn about Ruth, who is still designing hats and an actress on stage in London. Ellen finds Ruth on the stage and realises that they are really sisters. As the relationship grows and they are inseparable and become extremely close. Their lives are not always a bed of roses but there is both happy and sad times and this is explored throughout the book, keeping you very gripped to the end.

Mary has the extraordinary gift of developing a story with an incredible imagination and dovetailed with her research. This book was awarded 5 stars from me and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Mary’s Random Things Tour & Social Media Information

Mary Wood’s Book Series

1. Breckton
2. Generation War
3. Girls Who Went to War
4. Jam Factory Girls
5. Orphanage Girls