Two women uncover the secrets of the past in this emotional and poignant story that’s perfect for fans of Lisa Wingate and Kristina McMorris.
 
1934: Connie Burroughs loves living in the orphanage that her father runs in the English countryside. Exploring its nooks and crannies with her sister, hearing the pounding of a hundred pairs of feet on the wooden stairs, having a father who is doing so much good. But everything changes the day she sees him carrying a newborn baby that he says he found near the broken front gate. A baby she recognizes . . .

Present Day: Arriving at her father’s beloved cottage beside the Thames, Sarah Jennings is hoping for peace and quiet, and an escape from her difficult divorce. But when she finds her father unwell and poring over boxes of files on the orphanage where he was abandoned as a child, she decides to investigate his elusive past herself.

The only person left alive who lived at Cedar Hall when Sarah’s father was there is Connie Burroughs, but Connie sits quietly in her nursing home for a reason. The sewing box under Connie’s bed hides secrets that will change Sarah’s life forever, uncovering a connection between the two women that has darker consequences than she could ever imagine.

A heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting tale inspired by the lives of the children who lived at the author’s great-grandfather’s orphanage

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Review:

Pensive, tense, and emotive!

The Orphan House is an engaging, mysterious tale that sweeps you away to the idyllic village of Weirfield and immerses you into the lives of two main characters, Sarah Jennings, a young woman who, after heading to her father’s home to regroup after her marriage falls apart, finds herself taking care of her father, purchasing a historic home, and endeavouring to rebuild a new life in a house that needs a lot of work and seems to contain a lot of hidden surprises; and Connie Burroughs, an elderly woman who, after a recent fall and subsequent move to an assisted-living facility, decides to let the memories she’s been protecting and her father’s long-buried secrets finally come to light.

The prose is evocative and expressive. The characters are focused, troubled, and attentive. And the plot, set in both the 1930s as well as present-day, is a tender, heartfelt mix of life, love, family, friendship, self-reflection, history, abuse, power, negligence, community, new beginnings, and second chances.

Overall, The Orphan House is a hopeful, absorbing, reflective tale by Bennett that, with its compelling storyline and endearing characters, I’m sure glad I didn’t miss.

 

This novel is available now.

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