Author: Rachael English

Rachael English is the author of five novels: GOING BACK, which was shortlisted for the most-promising newcomer award at the Irish Book Awards, EACH AND EVERY ONE, THE AMERICAN GIRL, which reached number one on the Irish paperback best sellers list, THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY and THE PAPER BRACELET.
Like many many writers, she also has a day job. She’s a presenter on the radio programme, Morning Ireland.

Photograph courtesy of Author’s Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The Letter Home by Rachael English @EnglishRachael @Mobius_Books @headlinepg #TheLetterHome #RachaelEnglish #MobiusBooksUS

#BookReview The Letter Home by Rachael English @EnglishRachael @Mobius_Books @headlinepg #TheLetterHome #RachaelEnglish #MobiusBooksUS Title: The Letter Home

Author: Rachael English

Published by: Headline Books on Jul. 7, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 9/10

A rich, heartbreaking novel, moving between west of Ireland and Boston, of a mother’s love, a baby girl, a courageous voyage, and a forgotten story that binds two families separated by an ocean…

She had left behind everything she loved to forge a future for the one she treasured most…

2019 Dublin. When Jessie Daly loses her job, her flat and her relationship, she travels home to Ireland’s west coast and helps an old friend researching what happened in the area during the 1840s Famine. They are drawn into the remarkable story of a brave young mother called Bridget Moloney, and Jessie becomes determined to find out what happened to Bridget and her daughter, Norah.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Kaitlin Wilson is researching her family tree. She knows her ancestors left Ireland for Boston in the 19th century. Everything else is a mystery. Kaitlin unearths a fascinating story, but her research forces her to confront uncomfortable truths about herself and her family and also uncover a heartbreaking connection to a young woman in the west of Ireland…


Review:

Captivating, layered, and heartfelt!

The Letter Home is an intriguing tale set in Ireland and Boston during the mid-1800s, as well as present-day, and is told from three different perspectives. Bridget, a young woman who suffers unimaginable loss and makes sacrifices no mother should ever have to make during The Irish Potato Famine, Jesse, a spirited journalist who, after blowing up her career and heading home to Co. Clare, stumbles upon new revelations about her past while researching the nineteenth century for a friend, and Kaitlin, a successful lawyer who, after feeling a little discontent with life, endeavours to discover more information about her Irish roots.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are resilient, independent, and strong. And the plot sweeps you away into a touching tale about life, loss, friendship, family, heartbreak, tragedy, survival, self-discovery, and the importance of remembering those who’ve come before.

Overall, The Letter Home is an insightful, engrossing, poignant read by English that does a lovely job of interweaving historical facts and compelling fiction into an absorbing, heart-tugging tale that is exceptionally atmospheric and beautifully entertaining.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

                

 

 

Thank you to Mobius Books US for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rachael English

Rachael English is the author of five novels: GOING BACK, which was shortlisted for the most-promising newcomer award at the Irish Book Awards, EACH AND EVERY ONE, THE AMERICAN GIRL, which reached number one on the Irish paperback best sellers list, THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY and THE PAPER BRACELET.
Like many many writers, she also has a day job. She's a presenter on the radio programme, Morning Ireland.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English @EnglishRachael @Mobius_Books @headlinepg #ThePaperBracelet #RachaelEnglish #MobiusBooksUS

#BookReview The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English @EnglishRachael @Mobius_Books @headlinepg #ThePaperBracelet #RachaelEnglish #MobiusBooksUS Title: The Paper Bracelet

Author: Rachael English

Published by: Headline Books on Jan. 5, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 9/10

Every baby’s bracelet held a mother’s secret…

Inspired by heartrending real events, the gripping new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Rachael English. Readers of Diane Chamberlain and Kathryn Hughes will love this book.

‘A true storyteller who keeps you turning the pages’ Cathy Kelly

For almost fifty years, Katie Carroll has kept a box tucked away inside her wardrobe. It dates from her time working as a nurse in a west of Ireland mother and baby home in the 1960s. The box contains a notebook holding the details of the babies and young women she met there. It also holds many of the babies’ identity bracelets.

Following the death of her husband, Katie makes a decision. The information she possesses could help reunite adopted people with their birth mothers, and she decides to post a message on an internet forum. Soon the replies are rolling in, and Katie finds herself returning many of the bracelets to their original owners. She encounters success and failure, heartbreak and joy. But is she prepared for old secrets to be uncovered in her own life?


Review:

Absorbing, poignant, and heartrending!

The Paper Bracelet is a harrowing, moving novel set in Ireland during the 1970s, as well as present-day, that takes you into the halls of Carrigbrack, a mother-and-baby home run by nuns where unwed pregnant girls are unwillingly banished to repent, deliver, and subsequently relinquish their parental rights under conditions of emotional and physical abuse, meagre basic necessities, excessive workloads, and often vicious, sadistic punishments and the complex, emotional journey to reacquaint mothers with their long-lost children years later.

The prose is sentimental and rich. The characters are vulnerable, strong, and brave. And the plot told from multiple perspectives is a compelling blend of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, abuse, survival, motherhood, and friendship.

Overall, The Paper Bracelet is a compassionate, enlightening, hopeful tale inspired by true-life events that is a haunting reminder of all those women who lived, suffered, and endured in these horrific institutions and continued to do so late into the 20th century. It’s a book that, ultimately, needs to be read to appreciate just how well researched, beautifully written, and extremely memorable it truly is.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

                

 

 

Thank you to Mobius Books US for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rachael English

Rachael English is the author of five novels: GOING BACK, which was shortlisted for the most-promising newcomer award at the Irish Book Awards, EACH AND EVERY ONE, THE AMERICAN GIRL, which reached number one on the Irish paperback best sellers list, THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY and THE PAPER BRACELET.
Like many many writers, she also has a day job. She's a presenter on the radio programme, Morning Ireland.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.