The Foundling

“I am not the whore who abandoned her at some pox-ridden baby farm” This is my 3rd Stacey Halls book and the 2nd published. It doesn't, however, quite live up to the other two.I was aware of The Foundling Hospital before I started this story so I was prepared for something quite horrible and part one does not disappoint. In fact, it is such a gut wrenchingly tragic opening that the rest of the book sort of falls flat, leaving us with a somewhat underwhelming happy ending. Still, it is beautifully written and well worth it if you love the gothic. 3.5 rounded up.

We start with the POV of Bess, a poor London street hawker who is placing her one day old illegitimate daughter into the care of The Foundling Hospital. The tone of Bess's narrative is immediately warm and easy to sink into. Throughout Part 1 we learn about Bess, her family, the circumstances leading to her child's birth and placement at the Foundling, and watch her prepare to reclaim her after years of working and saving. As the reader is already aware from the synopsis, Bess arrives at the Foundling only to be told she has already reclaimed the child, and this event is the main mystery of the narrative.

About a third of the way into the book we reach Part 2, which introduces the perspective of Mrs Alexandra Callard, a wealthy widower raising her husband's daughter. The voice of Alexandra is very distinct from Bess', and at first it does feel very cold and rigid in comparison. As the story continues and we learn more about her character and her history we discover that she is a deeply traumatised person and I felt a lot more sympathy for her. Alexandra is encouraged by one of the doctors from The Foundling to employ as a nursemaid for her daughter Charlotte a young woman called Eliza whose description matches Bess' to a suspicious degree.

I really liked how the author made just enough clear to make you feel like you were probably sure what was going on, but not all that sure how it was going to play it - the balance between spelling things out and not giving it away completely was perfectly achieved. Several times I would start to formulate theories or make predictions only to find something new that made me rethink them a few pages later. This could have been frustrating but it is done so well that it just kept me gripped and eager to know more. The pacing was ideal - it felt like the plot moved along steadily but without rushing, and it didn't become staid at any point.

There were no characters I disliked. Even those whose motives or actions ran counter to those of the protagonists were well written and made sympathetic as you could tell where their motivation was coming from - e.g. Ned, so rather than be annoyed at them for putting stumbling blocks in the way, I felt sad for them and the circumstances that drove them,

The book did a great job of portraying Georgian London and its people, though it did give me a start and a chuckle when it described the countryside as being so close to Great Ormond Street, and Fulham as being ‘in the country'.

The ending was not what I expected at all. When reading it my primary reaction was one of relief and pleasure that they would all get somewhat of a Happy Ever After after all, however after a few moments of reflection after finishing the book I did feel it somewhat unrealistic how easily and neatly all was resolved and the manner in which it was settled. Not that I couldn't see people behaving that way out of love for a child, but it seemed quite sudden for Bess and Alexandra to be behaving so warmly to each other and unlikely a scenario for what I know of the period. I am happy to suspend my disbelief though as it was a satisfying resolution to a satisfying read.

I really enjoyed that character of Lyle (for some reason I see him as Lin Manuel Miranda's character from Mary Poppins Returns even though that's entirely the wrong era) and would have liked to see more of his and Bess' developing relationship, especially the bit in the direct lead up to the final scene, but overall there's really not much I would have changed about this book (and probably extra Lyle scenes would have disrupted the pace or flow or somesuch).

''People tossed all sorts into the river, including themselves.''

London, 1754. Bess is one of the unfortunate mothers who have to leave their children in the Foundling Hospital, with the desperate hope that she will return to claim her. And indeed, six years later she comes back, true to her word. But her daughter isn't there. Someone else has claimed her as her own. Bess starts a quest that will lead her in the circles of the metropolis upper class, exposing the hypocrisy, while the lower classes struggle to earn the daily bread.

If you had any doubts as to whether The Foundling was as good as The Familiars, rest assured. Stacey Halls's second novel is equally exciting, poignant and very, very different. She creates a story dedicated to motherhood, womanhood and the undying devotion of a mother towards her child. Two women who lost their mother at an early age try to come to terms with what it means to care for a child. One is a natural, the other fails miserably. One woman gives unconditionally, the other offers money but no tenderness.

There are so many themes intertwined in the story of Bess and Alexandra. Halls chooses to place the action in the 18th century, but both women can be characterized as ‘‘modern'', without being unrealistic. They rule their fate, they choose to lead their lived by their choices, and although they are aided or hindered by men, the course of the action is decided by them. Even though their backgrounds are opposite, they are both independent. It is also interesting that Halls decides to depict Bess's warm relationship with her father, so there is complete balance in the depiction of the role of the two sexes.

The two women at the opposite ends of the spectrum not only financially but also psychologically. Bess is pragmatic, sensitive, level-headed, honest and determined. I loved her and I do wish she had been the sole focus of the novel. I did not like Alexandra at all, I couldn't understand her, I couldn't accept or respect her views. She is deeply troubled and represents the epitome of the hypocritical upper class. She is incapable of any trace of tenderness towards a child, to the point of being cruel. She lives in the past but there is no excuse for her tyranny. Doctor Mead and Lyle are great characters and I really loved them.

''Like the Thames tide the city had a temperament, and it could give or take.''

I've often said that London is a character and this novel is no exception. Georgian London is not very different from its Victorian version. The smells, the sounds of the market, the gardens, the promenades of the high society and the derelict houses of the less fortunate. Every inch of the city comes alive, providing the noisy setting of a very humane story.
The subject matter could have easily become a frightful melodrama but not here. Not when a novel is written by one of the best writers of today's Historical Fiction. A hymn to the bond between mothers and daughters and to staying true to yourself, fighting for what belongs to you.

''You gentry morts have no clue. You sit in your drawing rooms and bury your heads in your cushions, cause prison don't happen to the likes of you. You read about in the papers, but it's just a story to you. An idea. I can tell you what it's really like.''

Many thanks to MIRA and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/