The Foundling

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).