...(book review) the foundling by stacey halls

Two women, bound by a child and a secret that will change everything...

London 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, Bess is astonished when she is told that she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.

Less than a mile from Bess's lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house for a decade. When her close friend - an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital - persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

THE FOUNDLING by Stacey Halls

Published: Feb 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction / Gothic Fiction

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

After recently reading Stacey Halls 2019 debut novel The Familiars, I was excited to start reading The Foundling right away.

The book draws you in from the first page when we meet Bess Bright waiting in line at London's Foundling Hospital to see if they will accept her new-born daughter into their care; a baby she does not want to give up, but hasn't the circumstances to keep. Her life and her living situation are sadly typical of the working class in the 1700's: hard, bleak and thoroughly unsuitable for raising a child, particularly an illegitimate child that Bess alone does not have the money to feed or clothe.

My heart bled for her, exerting so much physical and mental strength less than 24 hours after child birth, sitting in a room with strangers and reluctantly handing over her baby girl to give her a better life. She leaves her with a token so that she might be identified if Bess can ever return for her.

What broke my heart most about this is that everything in this book that references the Foundling Hospital is factual. I felt that the author's own research and understanding of this process was well evidenced in her writing and enhanced the reality of Bess's situation in the story, despite the character being fictional. My curiosity was piqued, and when finishing the book, I did some of my own research about foundlings. There is actually a Foundling Museum in Brunswick, London, where many tokens from children who were never claimed are displayed. Due to the way records were kept, many of them cannot be matched to the child they belonged to - which is equally heart breaking.

The longer a child remained in the care of the Foundling Hospital, the more unlikely it was that they would be claimed. A child's mother would, upon her return, be asked to pay what she could towards the care her child had received from the hospital. This was not meant to be a cruel system, but in the 1700's, many women were unable to save enough to reclaim their child, or be able to offer them a better life even if they could.

In The Foundling, this is the exact dilemma faced by Bess. After saving for six years in order to reclaim her daughter, she has just two pounds. As well as fearing it's not enough, she worries that she will be taking her child away from an environment where she's been fed, clothed and educated in preparation to be sent to work at a better job than Bess can set her up with.

But is comfort a substitute for love?

In the end, it's all irrelevant, for when Bess arrives at the hospital, her daughter's records reveal that her child has already been claimed. By her. Or rather, another woman claiming to be her, six years ago.

One of the many things I enjoyed about this book, is that it's told from two perspectives, the first being Bess's, and the second Alexandra's - the woman who we discover has managed to claim Bess's daughter as her own.

Bess and Alexandra live two very contrasting lives. Alexandra: a wealthy widow, living as a recluse in a townhouse complete with two servants. Bess: a shrimp hawker's daughter living in small, damp lodgings with her father and brother. 

When it comes to material possessions, Alexandra has everything to offer the child. But when it comes to love and understanding, she is lacking and cold in her manner.

Where she fails in her motherly affection, Bess excels.

As always, I tiptoe around spoilers when writing book reviews, but in case you hadn't noticed, motherhood is a running theme in this book. I loved the way Stacey Hall depicts family realistically as being imperfect. No amount of wealth or love can create a perfect family, or make a perfect mother. You cannot buy your child's love. It has to be earnt through time and bonding, and trust.

Through Alexandra and Bess, the author succeeds excellently in highlighting the class differentiations that were very dramatic in the 1700's, and she does this by showing us the great gap between these two women's lives. And yet, they are still linked and able to find common ground through the child they share.

Please let me know if you've read this brilliant book, and if so, what were your thoughts?

I've been making my way through a great many books recently, so expect book reviews of some new releases very soon!
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