Thought provoking beginning
I loved Stacey Halls’ first novel ‘The Familiars’ so I really wanted to read her next one.
It is so exciting to see her new book is set in London this time.
Stacey Halls can captivate you from the first page. We are introduced to our protagonist waiting to find out if her newborn baby will be given a place at the foundling hospital. Stacey Halls shows the raw and brutal reality of 18th century life from the first moment. The description of the lottery method of selection used by the establishment to decide who will be helped and who will be sent away was heart wrenching.
The hardship of life at this time is accurately and so well portrayed through character dialogue and illustrative descriptions of the protagonists surroundings. We see our protagonist working on a market selling fish. The description of Billingsgate Market is so vivid you can almost smell the fish seeping through the pages. It is a tough life and our protagonist has already so early on made a tough decision it is exciting to see where it goes from here.
It is so exciting to see her new book is set in London this time.
Stacey Halls can captivate you from the first page. We are introduced to our protagonist waiting to find out if her newborn baby will be given a place at the foundling hospital. Stacey Halls shows the raw and brutal reality of 18th century life from the first moment. The description of the lottery method of selection used by the establishment to decide who will be helped and who will be sent away was heart wrenching.
The hardship of life at this time is accurately and so well portrayed through character dialogue and illustrative descriptions of the protagonists surroundings. We see our protagonist working on a market selling fish. The description of Billingsgate Market is so vivid you can almost smell the fish seeping through the pages. It is a tough life and our protagonist has already so early on made a tough decision it is exciting to see where it goes from here.